The advance of knowledge is an infinite progression towards a goal that for ever recedes.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

The Houses are strong built, but homely, letticed like those of Lisbon , for the Admission of Air, without Closets, and what is worse, Hearths; which makes their Cookery consist all in frying and stewing upon Stoves; and that they do till the Flesh become tender enough to shake it to Pieces, and one Knife is then thought sufficient to serve a Table of half a Score.
— from A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present time by Daniel Defoe

[Aside] O knowledge ill-inhabited, worse than Jove in a thatch'd house! TOUCHSTONE.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

The whole apparatus of knowledge is an abstracting and simplifying apparatus—not directed at knowledge, but at the appropriation of things: "end" and "means" are as remote from the essence of this apparatus as "concepts" are.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

When affairs stood thus, one whose name was Sameas, 16 a righteous man he was, and for that reason above all fear, rose up, and said, "O you that are assessors with me, and O thou that art our king, I neither have ever myself known such a case, nor do I suppose that any one of you can name its parallel, that one who is called to take his trial by us ever stood in such a manner before us; but every one, whosoever he be, that comes to be tried by this Sanhedrim, presents himself in a submissive manner, and like one that is in fear of himself, and that endeavors to move us to compassion, with his hair dishevelled, and in a black and mourning garment: but this admirable man Herod, who is accused of murder, and called to answer so heavy an accusation, stands here clothed in purple, and with the hair of his head finely trimmed, and with his armed men about him, that if we shall condemn him by our law, he may slay us, and by overbearing justice may himself escape death.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of goodness.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

They evidently stood in some awe of Katerina Ivanovna.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

For as to what we have heard you say, that there are other kingdoms in the world, inhabited by human creatures as large as yourself, our philosophers are very doubtful, and rather conjecture that you dropped from the moon, or one of the stars, because a hundred mortals of your size would soon destroy all the fruit and cattle of his Majesty’s dominions.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Their educational equivalent is the connection of the acquisition of knowledge in the schools with activities, or occupations, carried on in a medium of associated life.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

These suppositions are unfounded, and the view of authorities to-day is that it is a disease of a peculiar kind, not identical with any other known infectious disease.
— from Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by Dr. (Benjamin Tilghman) Woodward

But the literary activity of Katherine II.'s reign was not confined to its two most brilliant representatives—Von Vízin and Derzhávin; many less prominent writers, belonging to different parties and branches of literature, were diligently at work.
— from A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections by Isabel Florence Hapgood

For, without disputing the advantage of knowledge in a general way, knowledge, in itself, is not friendly to content.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. II, No. X., March 1851 by Various

George Mason (III), son of the late sheriff and ordinary keeper in the port town, held the now-empty title of feoffee, together with Rice Hooe.
— from The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia An Archeological and Historical Investigation of the Port Town for Stafford County and the Plantation of John Mercer, Including Data Supplied by Frank M. Setzler and Oscar H. Darter by C. Malcolm Watkins

He seems to have altogether overlooked the boundless territory and growing population of Russia, her forty millions of men—a number already exceeding that of any other kingdom in Europe—the inaccessible nature of her dominions, the implicit and Asiatic devotion of her subjects, the unrivaled vigour of her despotism, and the fact that she had but
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 348 by Various

At Thank-God Harbor was born Mertuk's youngest child, Charles Polaris, nearer the pole than any other known infant.
— from True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by A. W. (Adolphus Washington) Greely

Such appears to be the likeliest account of this period, although our knowledge is not complete.
— from The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 1 (of 4) by William Milligan Sloane

“But there is now a weight of obligation on the other side; and you must allow me to make some return for the many acts of kindness I have received under your roof.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, July 1850 by Various

My vague fears--which at that moment I should have felt a difficulty in explaining--were not dispelled by the action of Kristel, immediately following my reply.
— from A Secret Inheritance (Volume 1 of 3) by B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon