‘I knew this woman was a hypocrite, in the way of psalms and Scripture phrases,’ said Ralph, passing quietly by, ‘but I never knew she drank before.’
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

The bow is never kept strung except when in actual use, as it would lose its strength and elasticity by being constantly bent.
— from The Silent Readers: Sixth Reader by Ethel Maltby Gehres

I feel that; but then these fellows, I take it, are very impulsive, and no doubt the cocoanuts in their own land will exercise a counter-influence to mine, and so I shall soon be undeceived if I learn to think too much of their personal affection; but I never knew such dear lads, I don't know how I shall get on without them.
— from Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

“I doubted them somewhat,” he said: “but I never knew so much as you have told me.
— from It Might Have Been: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot by Emily Sarah Holt

But I never knew she cared so much for me; and now it's too late.
— from The Drummer Boy by J. T. (John Townsend) Trowbridge

But, in view of the amount of nitro-glycerine contained in their machine, it was practically certain that anyone who had the misfortune to be on board at the time it exploded, would have been, if not killed, seriously injured.
— from The Dreadnought Boys on a Submarine by John Henry Goldfrap

How would it be if no kind soul took pity on them?
— from La Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages by Jules Michelet

I am just longing for news of you, but I never knew such a cut-off place as this for letters.
— from My War Experiences in Two Continents by S. (Sarah) Macnaughtan

It may be due to leaks or grounds in the car wiring or to the electric system having gotten out of adjustment so that the battery is not kept supplied with the proper amount of current from the generator.
— from Ford Manual for Owners and Operators of Ford Cars and Trucks (1919) by Ford Motor Company

—Sixty-three records of breeding in northern Kansas span the period May 1 to July 31 ( Fig. 6 ); the modal date for completion of first clutches is May 25, and that for the second is July 5.
— from The Breeding Birds of Kansas by Richard F. Johnston