For he, amongst other rules, had been advised to make me relish science and duty by an unforced will, and of my own voluntary motion, and to educate my soul in all liberty and delight, without any severity or constraint; which he was an observer of to such a degree, even of superstition, if I may say so, that some being of opinion that it troubles and disturbs the brains of children suddenly to wake them in the morning, and to snatch them violently—and over-hastily from sleep (wherein they are much more profoundly involved than we), he caused me to be wakened by the sound of some musical instrument, and was never unprovided of a musician for that purpose.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Yet when unto our eyes Absence denyes Each others sight, And makes to us a constant night, 10 When others change to light; O give no way to griefe, But let beliefe Of mutuall love, This wonder to the vulgar prove 15 Our Bodyes, not wee move.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

[perhaps] 128 a deep-hidden and designed enterprise of supreme wisdom for preparing, if not for establishing, conformity to law amid the freedom of states, and with this a unity of a morally grounded system of those states.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

The slicker was a definite element of success, differing intrinsically from the prep school “big man.”
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

Though on both sides, both in addition and division, either of space or duration, when the idea under consideration becomes very big or very small, its precise bulk becomes very obscure and confused; and it is the NUMBER of its repeated additions or divisions that alone remains clear and distinct; as will easily appear to any one who will let his thoughts loose in the vast expansion of space, or divisibility of matter.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

Next day Chichikov dined and spent the evening at the house of the Chief of Police—a residence where, three hours after dinner, every one sat down to whist, and remained so seated until two o’clock in the morning.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

Though it was rather desirable that Mr and Mrs Musgrove should be previously alarmed by some share of delay; yet the time required by the Uppercross horses to take them back, would be a dreadful extension of suspense; and Captain Wentworth proposed, and Charles Musgrove agreed, that it would be much better for him to take a chaise from the inn, and leave Mr Musgrove's carriage and horses to be sent home the next morning early, when there would be the farther advantage of sending an account of Louisa's night.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

Always he felt himself somewhere else; perhaps in Washington with its social ease; perhaps in Europe; and he watched with vague unrest from the Quincy hills the smoke of the Cunard steamers stretching in a long line to the horizon, and disappearing every other Saturday or whatever the day might be, as though the steamers were offering to take him away, which was precisely what they were doing.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

El Americano, as the girl had first called him, otherwise known as Don Estevan or Sooshiuamo, was a solitary white man, a prospector who had obtained permission to spend the past winter in the village of the Indians of Santiago, and by them was often referred to as El Americano, the American par excellence , because he was the only one within fifty miles.
— from Lone Pine: The Story of a Lost Mine by R. B. (Richard Baxter) Townshend

Yet, though error never saves, moreover, when consistently developed, has the tendency of corrupting the whole lump, false Churches may be instrumental in saving souls, inasmuch as they retain essential parts of the Gospel-truths, and inasmuch as God's grace may neutralize the accompanying deadly error, or stay its leavening power.
— from American Lutheranism Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism and The Tennessee Synod by F. (Friedrich) Bente

Fortunately there is one season in the year when coats in the small Western village, in which I lived, were at a discount, especially on small boys, and that was summer.
— from South American Fights and Fighters, and Other Tales of Adventure by Cyrus Townsend Brady

The Italians called him "the first singer on the violin," and his profound musical knowledge enabled him to produce effects in a perfectly legitimate manner, where other players had recourse to meretricious and dazzling exhibition of skill.
— from Great Violinists And Pianists by George T. (George Titus) Ferris

For each phase in equilibrium with the standard phase, therefore, there will be a definite equation of state for each component in the phase; so that, if there are P phases, we obtain for each component (P - 1) equations; and for C components, therefore, we obtain C(P - 1) equations.
— from The Phase Rule and Its Applications by Alexander Findlay

It is a turbulent fancy and disquieting error of some people, to think that their presence in the assembly, and continuance with the church, doth make them guilty of the personal faults of those they join with: if so, who would ever join with any assembly in the world?
— from A Christian Directory, Part 3: Christian Ecclesiastics by Richard Baxter

It must be honest, heartfelt, simple prayer; the plain and direct expression of such sentiments as children ought to feel, and of such petitions as they ought to offer.
— from The Teacher Or, Moral Influences Employed in the Instruction and Government of the Young by Jacob Abbott