For as he was walking up and down by himself before the judgment-seat, with his note-book and pen, lo, a young man, a lawyer, the real thief, privily bringing a hatchet, got in, unperceived by Alypius, as far as the leaden gratings which fence in the silversmiths' shops, and began to cut away the lead.
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Our dear Richard, sanguine, ardent, overleaping obstacles, bursting with poetry like a young bud, says to this highly respectable companion, 'I see a golden prospect before me; it's very bright, it's very beautiful, it's very joyous; here I go, bounding over the landscape to come at it!'
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The planet has no proper light, And yet, when Venus is in view, No primal star is half so bright.
— from The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore

If you have come to see whether there's any property on the premises, look about you; you are welcome.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

But I recollect that Caius Sulpicius Gallus, who was a man of profound learning, as you are aware, when this same thing was reported to have taken place in his time, while he was staying in the house of Marcus Marcellus, who had been his colleague in the consulship, asked to see a celestial globe which Marcellus’s grandfather had saved after the capture of Syracuse from that magnificent and opulent city, without bringing to his own home any other memorial out of so great a booty; which I had often heard mentioned on account of the great fame of Archimedes; but its appearance, however, did not seem to me particularly striking.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

As the environments of the mother influence the child in prenatal life, and you were with me so much, there is no doubt you have had a part in making them what they are.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

very poor work, answered Trim, to what your Honour and I make of it.—The character of this last man, said Dr. Slop, interrupting Trim, is more detestable than all the rest; and seems to have been taken from some pettifogging Lawyer amongst you:—Amongst us, a man's conscience could not possibly continue so long blinded,—three times in a year, at least, he must go to confession.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Some priest who could pronounce the Greek itself taught him to read his verse in the Testament in his native parish far away; and now I must translate to him, while he holds the book, Achilles' reproof to Patroclus for his sad countenance.—"Why are you in tears, Patroclus, like a young girl?"— "Or have you alone heard some news from Phthia?
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Were but his picture left amongst you here, It would amaze the proudest of you all.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Such a pretty lass as you can get a sweetheart any day.”
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

Miss Celestine Terrell, who was Mrs. Grahame West in private life, and young Grahame West, who played the part opposite to hers in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera that was then in the third month of its New York run, were among the honored patrons of the Hotel Salisbury.
— from Cinderella, and Other Stories by Richard Harding Davis

He has given no public lectures as yet.
— from Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland : with a view of the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' War — Complete (1609-15) by John Lothrop Motley

“Dear Mrs. Kranz,” Ruth said, “I do not know anything about the property Uncle Peter left, as yet.
— from The Corner House Girls How they moved to Milton, what they found, and what they did by Grace Brooks Hill

Mourning for a parent lasts a year; but you are free to wear it longer if you like.
— from The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII: No. 356, October 23, 1886. by Various

My friend, the painter, laughed: "Aha! you are looking for the sun, and is it only a moon overhead?
— from Unicorns by James Huneker

"'And you think,' he says, 'that you would be just as wonderful in public life as you would be in your home—your very own home?'
— from Mothers to Men by Zona Gale

Will you save your precious life and your reason?
— from The Bride of Dreams by Frederik van Eeden

The fame of the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine but the foot-prints of a girl .
— from The Blue Wall A Story of Strangeness and Struggle by Richard Washburn Child