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A Horseman in the Sky (1889) Ambrose Bierce

"The father lifted his leonine head, looked at the son a moment in silence, and replied: 'Well, go, sir, and whatever may occur do what you conceive to be your duty. Virginia, to which you are a traitor, must get on without you. Should we both live to the end of the war, we will speak further of the matter.' "

The Door in the Wall (1911) H. G. Wells

"Three times in one year the door has been offered me--the door that goes into peace, into delight, into a beauty beyond dreaming, a kindness no man on earth can know. And I have rejected it, Redmond, and it has gone--" 

The Lost Decade (1939) F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Mr. Trimble’s been away a long time. Or he feels it’s a long time — almost twelve years. Some people would consider themselves lucky to’ve missed the last decade." 

Cathedral (1983) Raymond Carver

 "Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved.”