Whenever philosophy has been taken seriously, it has always been assumed that it signified achieving a wisdom which would influence the conduct of life.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

Not only could he no longer think the thoughts that had first come to him as he lay gazing at the sky on the field of Austerlitz and had later enlarged upon with Pierre, and which had filled his solitude at Boguchárovo and then in Switzerland and Rome, but he even dreaded to recall them and the bright and boundless horizons they had revealed.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

After some miles of country lanes he reached the high road, and as he turned into it and Page 277 [Pg 277] glanced along its white length, he saw approaching him a speck that turned into a dot and then into a blob, and then into something very familiar; and a double note of warning, only too well known, fell on his delighted ear.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Tooker, whom my wife loves not from the report of her being already naught; however, I do shew her countenance, and by and by come my guests, Dr. Clerke and his wife, and Mrs. Worshipp, and her daughter; and then Mr. Pierce and his wife, and boy, and Betty; and then I sent for Mercer; so that we had, with my wife and I, twelve at table, and very good and pleasant company, and a most neat and excellent, but dear dinner; but, Lord!
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

According to the principles I have already laid down, I shall not thwart him; on the contrary, I shall approve of his plan, share his hobby, and work with him, not for his pleasure but my own; at least, so he thinks; I shall be his under-gardener, and dig the ground for him till his arms are strong enough to do it; he will take possession of it by planting a bean, and this is surely a more sacred possession, and one more worthy of respect, than that of Nunes Balboa, who took possession of South America in the name of the King of Spain, by planting his banner on the coast of the Southern Sea.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A lake a single lake which is a pond and a little water any water which is an ant and no burning, not any burning, all this is sudden.
— from Tender Buttons Objects—Food—Rooms by Gertrude Stein

Before quitting that struggle for independence, it must again be affirmed that its successful ending, at least at so early a date, was due to the control of the sea,—to sea power in the hands of the French, and its improper distribution by the English authorities.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

I just looked him over a bit, and then I said calmly, 'The only brother I ever had, MR. Fiske, was buried fifteen years ago, and I haven't adopted any since.
— from Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

First class hooks are always japanned or black; the inferior ones are blued, and these, if subjected to a heavy strain will straighten right out.
— from Black Bass Where to catch them in quantity within an hour's ride from New York by Charles Barker Bradford

This is the simple precaution adopted by all travellers in South Africa.
— from The Story of the Zulu Campaign by Edmund Verney Wyatt Edgell

," said Chloë, the younger woman, with a pert toss of her head, "if my feet were as large as yours, and my skin as black and thick, I should not care to complain if I had to work a little now and then.
— from A Friend of Cæsar: A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. by William Stearns Davis

Keep your appointment, and be assured that I shall issue my commands with more circumspection for the future, as I find how strictly they are complied with."
— from A Simple Story by Mrs. Inchbald

I shall leave talking for a bit, and then I shall offer again.
— from The Virgin in Judgment by Eden Phillpotts

But I’m afraid—afraid, Mary, that—that there isn’t anything beyond; and that I shall never see you again!”
— from Justin Wingate, Ranchman by John Harvey Whitson

British and French at Badajoz and Tarragona, in Spain, left fearful memories.
— from White Shadows in the South Seas by Frederick O'Brien

"Yes, my father was an engineer on that road, and couldn't afford to buy me what I wanted more than anything in the world—a violin, and I thought I would have to give it up—to go without it, until one day on the street I heard a boy with a basket of mayflowers crying 'Ten cents a bunch,' and then I saw how I might earn the money that I wanted so much, and buy my violin myself."
— from Hope Benham: A Story for Girls by Nora Perry

San Miguel was not so densely populated as it is now, but very quaint as to its town, and very romantic and beautiful as to its scenery all around.
— from As We Sweep Through The Deep by Gordon Stables

"So I wrote on a bit, and then I said,—for I felt sorry for the girl, though she was doing it for Grey,—I said,— '"Lizzy, I'll be plain with you.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 69, July, 1863 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various