Whereas the only truth substances can have, external to the intellect, must consist in their existence, because they are conceived through themselves.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza

When she had all but thrown him down-hill, she stuck the ferrule right under his nose and shook it, and says she: “Yet it is now as fine a day as if no such convulsion had ever threatened the island.
— from Mackinac and Lake Stories by Mary Hartwell Catherwood

The worst was that madame could no longer close her eyes to the illicit connection existing between her maid and her footman; the other servants laughed, the scandal was reported amongst the tradespeople; it was absolutely necessary to oblige them to get married if she wished to retain them, and, as she continued to be very well satisfied with Clémence, she thought of nothing but this marriage.
— from Piping Hot! (Pot-Bouille): A Realistic Novel by Émile Zola

He left full instructions, and particularly impressed upon the two nurses the fact that the recovery would necessarily be so slow that their unpractised eyes could hardly expect to trace its progress.
— from With Edged Tools by Henry Seton Merriman

In effect, Virginia's position would have given the state a veto on the will of the federal government, by the protection which her courts could have extended to the individual subject to her jurisdiction under the interpretation placed by the state upon the Constitution.
— from Rise of the New West, 1819-1829 by Frederick Jackson Turner

Nobody who has known the place the way I knew it could have ever thought that it would look like this.
— from Maezli: A Story of the Swiss Valleys by Johanna Spyri

" Arnold smiled and cast his eye towards the Indian, who, immediately after supper, had quitted the table and taken a seat in the window.
— from Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's. Vol. 1 (of 2) by John Pendleton Kennedy

This characteristic of the Russian trading classes has enabled them to insinuate themselves into the confidence of the Chinese; to fraternise and identify themselves with them, and as it were make common cause with them in their daily life; while the European holds himself aloof, and only comes in contact with the Chinese when business requires it,—for all the rest, a great gulf separates them in thoughts, ideas, and the aims of life.
— from The Siberian Overland Route from Peking to Petersburg, Through the Deserts and Steppes of Mongolia, Tartary, &c. by Alexander Michie

Then she retained a clever lawyer to collect his effects, turn them into hard cash, and remit the money to her.
— from Remarkable Rogues The Careers of Some Notable Criminals of Europe and America; Second Edition by Charles Kingston

The only wonder began to be how she could have ever trusted them in any hands but her own.
— from Dynevor Terrace; Or, The Clue of Life — Volume 2 by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

The next morning, on going near the spot where the captain and his companions had erected their tent, I saw no one moving.
— from James Braithwaite, the Supercargo: The Story of his Adventures Ashore and Afloat by William Henry Giles Kingston