Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents.
Many argue; not many converse.
Mac looked up with the oddest of all his odd expressions
I love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.
You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things, you are contented to be petted and admired by silly people, instead of being loved and respected by wise ones.
...and Jo laid the rustling sheets together with a careful hand, as one might shut the covers of a lovely romance, which holds the reader fast till the end comes, and he finds himself alone in the work-a-day world again.