I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger, though, had the powder took fire, I should never have known who had hurt me.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

He would not accept the butterfly explanation, but continued to teach his children that it came from God out of heaven as a manifestation of displeasure toward the sins of the people.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

The CYNICS are an extraordinary instance of philosophers, who from reasonings purely philosophical ran into as great extravagancies of conduct as any Monk or Dervise that ever was in the world.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.
— from As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

They are marked by candor, fairness, insight, and a mastery of difficult themes that makes his readers his constant debtors.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis

It was her great scene—where the girl, breaking free from all that has bound her, takes the hand of her vagabond lover and goes forth, leaving behind wealth and a marriage of distinction, that she may wander across the moors and down on the sands, with the wild wind in her face, the stars for a canopy!
— from The Gay Cockade by Temple Bailey

who look on their profession, not as a means of displaying their learning, but as a rule for their own practice!
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

She skilfully suspends the warp in a web of Barbarian design, 61 and interweaves purple marks with white, as a mode of discovering the villany of Tereus ; and delivers it, when finished, to one of her attendants , and begs her, by signs, to carry it to her mistress.
— from The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII by Ovid

Then, opening on the yard, where the stable was, came a large dilapidated room with a stove, now used as a wood-house, cellar, and pantry, full of old rubbish, of empty casks, agricultural implements past service, and a mass of dusty things whose use it was impossible to guess.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

His disciples were enjoined to shake off the dust from their feet as a manifestation of displeasure toward those who could not conscientiously subscribe to their creeds and dogmas.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

'It's the cherries; no wonder; a quart of those sour things would turn upside down any stomach,' Charles said, as he glanced at the empty tin pail which was adorning an inlaid table, and then suggested a dose of ipecac as a means of dislodging the offending cherries.
— from Tracy Park: A Novel by Mary Jane Holmes

I must do it, however, as a matter of duty to thank you for the dumb-fish you have been so kind as to have forwarded, and which are received safely and are found to be excellent.
— from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private by Thomas Jefferson

The valuation of this larger interest, as a means of determining the limit to which conservational investments may be made, lies in the political field.
— from The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

The mines are scattered all over its thousands of square miles of territory, and have already added millions of dollars to the wealth of the State and the world.
— from Old Mines of Southern California Desert-Mountain-Coastal Areas Including the Calico-Salton Sea Colorado River Districts and Southern Counties by Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks

Convinced that the fellow was an imposter, and his wares valuable only as a means of depleting the pockets of the credulous, Mr. Drummond loudly asserted the inefficacy of the nostrum, as well as the innocuousness of the reptiles, which he assumed to be either naturally harmless, or rendered so by being deprived of their fangs; and in proof thereof insisted upon being himself bitten.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884 by Various

Five marks called “Pole-axes,” four ditto “Crosses,” two ditto “Dung-forks, or Dung-pikes,” one mark called “Four Oxen and a Mare,” one ditto “Two Pits,” one ditto “Three Pits,” one ditto “Four Pits,” one ditto “Five Pits,” one ditto “Seven Pits,” one “Horn,” one “Hare’s-tail,” one “Duck’s-nest,” one “Oven,” one “Shell,” one “ Evil ,” and one “Hand-reel.”
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3) or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

On the arrival of your messenger I have ordered him to make preparations for his long journey back to you, and also appointed a man of dignity to accompany him on the part of my government.
— from History of the War in Afghanistan, Vol. 1 (of 3) Third Edition by Kaye, John William, Sir

The second may also be important as a means of determining the relative ages of the fossils.
— from The Chain of Life in Geological Time A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants by Dawson, John William, Sir

Justify the apparent length of the school day to teachers and pupils, as a means of determining the quality of the work of the school.
— from The Vitalized School by Francis B. (Francis Bail) Pearson

Not until swifts are a month old do the lazy little fellows climb out of their deep, dark cavern into the boundless sky, which is their true home.
— from Birds Every Child Should Know by Neltje Blanchan