But the “rivers” of Pharpar and Abana of Scripture (mere creeks,) run through Damascus, and so every house and every garden have their sparkling fountains and rivulets of water.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Knowledge by rote is no knowledge, it is only a retention of what has been intrusted to the memory.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

The Sheep, however, was afraid that they meant to cheat her; so she excused herself, saying, "The Wolf is in the habit of seizing what he wants and running off with it without paying, and you, too, can run much faster than I.
— from Aesop's Fables; a new translation by Aesop

I had some little tincture of information on matters of this nature, and soon became more and more absorbed in the contents of the book, reading it actually through twice before I awoke to a recollection of what was passing around me.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

By these means the people are reminded of what has been done, and made to see it with their own eyes,—not only such as were engaged in the actual Imagines.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

How I hereon stood shivering and aghast, Demand not, Reader; this I cannot write; So much the fact all reach of words surpassed.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

As the patient was to sit up in the evening, he appointed to visit her in her room at a certain hour, and rambling out with his book, did not return until the hour arrived.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Temporary occupation as a result of warlike operations on the part of the French always terminated in a short time in the restoration of the country upon the conclusion of peace.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes

mir. attributes so much to air, and rectifying of wind and windows, that he holds it alone sufficient to make a man sick or well; to alter body and mind.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The other thing I will here record, which seems to be contrary both to the custom and rules of war, is, that Vercingetorix, who was made general of all the parts of the revolted Gaul, should go shut up himself in Alexia: for he who has the command of a whole country ought never to shut himself up but in case of such last extremity that the only place he has left is in concern, and that the only hope he has left is in the defence of that city; otherwise he ought to keep himself always at liberty, that he may have the means to provide, in general, for all parts of his government.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Any road on which the men are paid at uncertain times may be subject to incalculable losses.
— from The American Railway: Its Construction, Development, Management, and Appliances by Thomas Curtis Clarke

For his great aim was "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," without preconception or favour, as far as he could go​—​essentially "a realist" of war​—​and what better aim can we set before ourselves?
— from The Reality of War: A Companion to Clausewitz by Stewart Lygon Murray

First I recollected how two poor fellows came down not very far from where I stood—half a mile perhaps—and were working in one of the small drains that was half stopped with soil and rubbish; they were down on one knee, in a bent position, and shovelling the mud back from one to another underneath them, and working towards a man-hole, when a rush of water came, and they struggled on against it till a mate at the man-hole, who stood there with a lantern and shouted, just got hold of the first man’s hand, when there came a sharper rush than ever from above, and the poor fellow was gone.
— from Adventures of Working Men. From the Notebook of a Working Surgeon by George Manville Fenn

" The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.
— from London and the Kingdom - Volume 1 A History Derived Mainly from the Archives at Guildhall in the Custody of the Corporation of the City of London. by Reginald R. (Reginald Robinson) Sharpe

And the personal interest with which the Two Auditors must hear such a revelation of wonders from such a Speaker, and that so intimately concerns themselves, falls nothing short of what Poetry justly requires in relations put into the mouth of the poetical Persons.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 404, June, 1849 by Various

The Gospel is a narrative of Jesus' life, written with abundant opportunity for reflection; the Apocalypse is a record of wonderful visions, where stylistic nicety would have marred the immediateness of the revelation.
— from The Literature and History of New Testament Times by J. Gresham (John Gresham) Machen

They had now, they fancied, got enough wood, with the aid of the shrubs, to form a raft, on which they might ferry themselves across to the rock.
— from Paul Gerrard, the Cabin Boy by William Henry Giles Kingston

I am reminded of what my double said to me of race.
— from A Modern Utopia by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

The wood is my wood, and there's no clause in my title-deeds as to any right of way through it; and I don't see why I am to have my hazel bushes pulled about, and my chestnut trees damaged by a pack of idle boys, under the pretence of church-going.
— from All along the River: A Novel by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon