[149] It is still sometimes denied that we find, in members of a civilised community, a certain depravity rooted in the nature of man; [C] and it might, indeed, be alleged with some show of truth that not an innate corruptness in human nature, but the barbarism of men, the defect of a not yet sufficiently developed culture, is the cause of the evident antipathy to law which their attitude indicates.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant

It is a superstition current in many countries that an evil spirit cannot escape from a circle drawn round it.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thence with Sir H. Cholmly to find out Creed from one lodging to another, which he hath changed so often that there is no finding him, but at last do come to his lodging that he is entering into this day, and do find his goods unlading at the door, by Scotland Yard, and there I set down Sir H. Cholmly, and I away to the ‘Change, where spoke about several things, and then going home did meet Mr. Andrews our neighbour, and did speak with him to enquire about the ground behind our house, of which I have a mind to buy enough to make a stable and coach-house; for I do see that my condition do require it, as well as that it is more charge to my purse to live as I do than to keep one, and therefore I am resolved before winter to have one, unless some extraordinary thing happens to hinder me.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Then said he, A boon, Cid Don Rodrigo; I have sung mass to you this morning: let me have the giving the first wounds in this battle and the Cid granted him this boon in the name of God.
— from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole

If Champa Dal remains in the palace I must go away.”
— from Folk-Tales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day

But now, wi' sighs and starting tears, He strays amang the woods and breirs; Or in the glens and rocky caves, His sad complaining dowie raves:— “I wha sae late did range and rove, And chang'd with every moon my love, I little thought the time was near, Repentance I should buy sae dear.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

Again, later, a large fire of coals descended right in front of me, while an immense heat filled the place.
— from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Faries by Yuk Yi

Now, consider, sir, what nonsense it is, either in fighting, or writing, or any thing else (whether in rhyme to it, or not) which a man has occasion to do—to act by plan: for if ever Plan, independent of all circumstances, deserved registering in letters of gold (I mean in the archives of Gotham)—it was certainly the Plan of Mrs. Wadman's attack of my uncle Toby in his sentry-box, By Plan—Now the plan hanging up in it at this juncture, being the Plan of Dunkirk—and the tale of Dunkirk a tale of relaxation, it opposed every impression she could make: and besides, could she have gone upon it—the manoeuvre of fingers and hands in the attack of the sentry-box, was so outdone by that of the fair Beguine's, in Trim's story—that just then, that particular attack, however successful before—became the most heartless attack that could be made— O!
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

The position of the two lines at that point were only about a hundred yards apart with a comparatively deep ravine intervening.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

So he chucked his boot and caught Denny right in the waistcoat part, and thus the day began more brightly than he had expected.
— from The Wouldbegoods: Being the Further Adventures of the Treasure Seekers by E. (Edith) Nesbit

3 Cicero de Rep. IV.
— from The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller

Thus, the bashful lover, who is the hero of one of 168 his characteristic dramatic romances, is a gentleman who thinks himself scarcely worthy to touch his mistress's shoe-string.
— from Hours in a Library, Volume 2 New Edition, with Additions by Leslie Stephen

He asked for further details so that he could despatch relief intelligently.
— from The Motor Rangers' Wireless Station by John Henry Goldfrap

Some progress on economic reform, Paris Club debt reschedulings in 1995 and 1996, and oil and gas sector expansion contributed to a recovery in growth since 1995.
— from The 2000 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

A continuous discharge resulting in a true current which takes place between a terminal of an incandescent lamp filament and a plate placed near it.
— from The Standard Electrical Dictionary A Popular Dictionary of Words and Terms Used in the Practice of Electrical Engineering by T. O'Conor (Thomas O'Conor) Sloane

In an east and west course, the variation of the compass serves materially, and especially in this voyage.[104] From the 26th November till the 15th December we plied to the eastwards, as nearly as we could, always striving to get to the island of Cisne, called Diego Rodriguez in some charts; but ever from our leaving Madagascar, we found the wind at E. or E.S.E. or E.N.E. so that we could not accomplish it, and we could not continue to strive long in hopes of the wind changing, as our men began again to fall sick of the scurvy.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Robert Kerr

Known in its earliest days as “Le Conseil du Roi,” its members were the grandees of the kingdom: vassals, prelates, officers of State, and it was supposed to follow the King wherever he went, though as a matter of fact it rarely moved from Paris.
— from Historic Paris by Jetta Sophia Wolff