A law of nature explains nothing, it has no governing power, it is but a descriptive formula which the careless have sometimes personified."
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

Or, again, we may say that there was more experience and love of nature enshrined in ancient mythology than in ancient physics; the observant poet might then have fared better in the world than the pert and ignorant materialist.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

As long as the number of such animals, which can thus be reared at little or no expense, is fully sufficient to supply the demand, this sort of butcher's meat comes to market at a much lower price than any other.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Naintunsis kug báyad ug mahal sa ímung pagpasakitsákit, Because you pretended to be ill, I was made to go to a lot of needless expense.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

↑ 38 C. G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, p. 212; Boston, 1884.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

These creatures, which have always been distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity with authors, liberally or niggardly embellish the manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of, the writer's powers.
— from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

But if an unwritten Law, in all the Provinces of a Dominion, shall be generally observed, and no iniquity appear in the use thereof; that law can be no other but a Law of Nature, equally obliging all man-kind.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

The same causes which gradually raise the price of butcher's meat, the increase of the demand, and, in consequence of the improvement of the country, the diminution of the quantity which can be fed at little or no expense, raise, in the same manner, that of the produce of the dairy, of which the price naturally connects with that of butcher's meat, or with the expense of feeding cattle.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

I talked to them of our want of manhood, if we submitted to our enslavement without at least one noble effort to be free.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

The case made a lot of noise, even the cabmen all knew about it.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

A LEGEND OF NEW ENGLAND.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, May 1850 by Various

In the next place, if the sum had been a larger one, not even Zeno would have persisted in lending it.
— from L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

On the topics in which man is most exercised and garrulous, such as local or national events, Jesus is strangely silent.
— from Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St Luke by Henry Burton

But before she finished her sentence, I saw a look of new expectancy in her eyes, and turning in the same direction, I caught sight of “the father,” as we called him, coming towards us, a letter in his hand also, and a look of inquiry and surprise in his face.
— from The Grim House by Mrs. Molesworth

[y], was able, during a life of no extraordinary length, to acquire more knowledge, and even to compose more books, than most studious men, though blessed with the greatest leisure and application, have, in more fortunate ages, made the object of their uninterrupted industry.
— from The History of England, Volume I From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 by David Hume

“Yet, I think, Hussein Khan, the ram that led those three was the father of all markhôr in these mountains, for never did I see a larger one, nor even so large a one.
— from The Heath Hover Mystery by Bertram Mitford

Two days afterwards, Louis of Nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) by John Lothrop Motley

§ 13,) and covers its surface not merely with the smoke of finely divided water, but with boiling mist; imagine also the low rain-clouds brought down to the very level of the sea, as I have often seen them, whirling and flying in rags and fragments from wave to wave; and finally, conceive the surges themselves in their utmost pitch of power, velocity, vastness, and madness, lifting themselves in precipices and peaks, furrowed with their whirl of ascent, through all this chaos; and you will understand that there is indeed no distinction left between the sea and air; that no object, nor horizon, nor any landmark or natural evidence of position is left; that the heaven is all spray, and the ocean all cloud, and that you can see no farther in any direction than you could see through a cataract.
— from Modern Painters, Volume 1 (of 5) by John Ruskin