If this Discourse appear too long to be read at once, it may be divided into six Parts: and, in the first, will be found various considerations touching the Sciences; in the second, the principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered, in the third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method; in the fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Human Soul, which are the foundations of his Metaphysic; in the fifth, the order of the Physical questions which he has investigated, and, in particular, the explication of the motion of the heart and of some other difficulties pertaining to Medicine, as also the difference between the soul of man and that of the brutes; and, in the last, what the Author believes to be required in order to greater advancement in the investigation of Nature than has yet been made, with the reasons that have induced him to write.
— from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences by René Descartes

According to Jean Paul Richter, Fischart is much superior to Rabelais in style and in the fruitfulness of his ideas, and his equal in erudition and in the invention of new expressions after the manner of Aristophanes.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

And everything that escapes from the hand and discipline of man, returns almost immediately to its original natural condition.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Our Discourse is not kept up in Conversation, but falls into more Pauses and Intervals than in our Neighbouring Countries; as it is observed, that the Matter of our Writings is thrown much closer together, and lies in a narrower Compass than is usual in the Works of Foreign Authors:
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

ocalities lying close to the Alps, I thought I ought not to let their original attack upon Italy pass unrecorded, any more than their subsequent attempts, or their final ejectment: for it is the function of the historian to record and transmit to posterity such episodes in the drama of Fortune; that our posterity may not from ignorance of the past be unreasonably dismayed at the sudden and unexpected invasions of these barbarians, but may reflect how short-lived and easily damped the spirit of this race is; and so may stand to their defence, and try every possible means before yielding an inch to them.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Now with two arms I thee invest Of never-ending Sleep and Rest, With weapons of the Sun and Rain, And those that dry and burn amain; And strong Desire with conquering touch, The dart that Káma prizes much.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

That the Maoris kept slightly in touch with the world of Asia after their colonization of New Zealand is shown by the discovery some years ago in the interior of New Zealand of an Indian bronze bell dating from about the fourteenth century A.C., with an inscription on it in the Tamil language of southern India.
— from Pioneers in Australasia by Harry Johnston

He found the answer in the inequality of natural advantages, and he was able to discern the necessity of including in these advantages the presence, apparently accidental, in some communities and not in others of men of especial genius or capacity in some important direction.
— from Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3), Essay 3: Condorcet by John Morley

We were victorious; after the banner fell in Lombardy to soar again in Venice and to sink, the Republic struggled to life; Rome rose once more on her seven hills, free and grand, child and mother of an idea, the idea of national unity, of independence and liberty from Tyrol to Sicily.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 67, May, 1863 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

In the amiable family circle of his early friend the hours passed quickly and pleasantly in the retrospect of their youthful associations, and in the interchange of narratives and incidents of their later life; but amid all these, music was not wanting; and to hear it each time, an increased number of the lovers of music were invited.
— from Louis Spohr's Autobiography Translated from the German by Louis Spohr

Geography ::Seychelles Location: archipelago in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar Geographic coordinates: 4 35 S, 55 40 E Map references: Africa Area: total: 455 sq km country comparison to the world: 198 land: 455 sq km water: 0
— from The 2009 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Hence every advance in the imitation of nature is an advance in the power of expression.
— from The Principles of Aesthetics by De Witt H. (De Witt Henry) Parker

It is as in the increase of natural secretions, exhalations, &c.
— from General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 2 (of 3) by Xavier Bichat

—When it is desired that any article on the table be passed, a servant should be asked, if there is one near.
— from How to Teach Manners in the School-room by Julia M. Dewey