| 1. | "The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue and they flow not onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion. - from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe |
| 2. | Everyone's heart palpitated as Leo Dillon handed up the paper and everyone assumed an innocent face. - from Dubliners by James Joyce |
| 3. | My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear, and I hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about m. - from Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley |
| 4. | "Oh, how our hearts palpitated for it did, indeed, seem to be a ring which was placed there. - from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Pere |