I believe not; and when I find myself at the best, I perceive that my tongue is enriched indeed, but my courage little or nothing elevated by them; that is just as nature framed it at first, and defends itself against the conflict only after a natural and ordinary way.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

—En Madrid, según nos contó la otra noche el cura de Naharilla—dijo Vejarruco,—ya quedan tan pocas iglesias, 5 que algunos curas dicen misa en medio de la calle, y como les
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós

Even the rules of corresponding phenomena are only called laws of nature (e.g., the mechanical laws), when we either know them really a priori, or (as in the case of chemical laws) suppose that they would be known a priori from objective grounds if our insight reached further.
— from The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant

The French fleet accordingly proceeded to Newport; to the 4000 French infantry Washington added 1500 of the best of his Continentals; levies of New England yeomanry raised the total strength to 13,000; and the general command of the American troops was given to Sullivan.
— from The War of Independence by John Fiske

Conjugal love ought never either to put on or to take away the bandage of its eyes, excepting at the due season.
— from The Physiology of Marriage, Part 1 by Honoré de Balzac

The lectures which he delivered on Practical Medicine still remain, written in a confused mixture of German and barbarous Latin, and containing little or nothing except a farrago of empirical remedies, advanced with the greatest confidence.
— from The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2) by Thomas Thomson

As they rode back toward the barns and cattle-sheds that belonged to the ranch edging the corporation limits of New Eden, neither one noticed the tall, angular form of Mrs. Stellar Bahrr as she came striding across lots toward the driveway.
— from The Reclaimers by Margaret Hill McCarter

Further, that it could be drawn into the finest of wire, hammered into the thinnest of plates and leaves, and be bent and twisted to almost any extent without breaking; that an admixture with it of the slightest impurity or alloy so immediately changed its color, that color became [ 39 ] to a very high degree a test of its purity; 1 that fire, water, air, and almost all the agencies destructive to other things, had comparatively little or no effect upon it; that with the exception of size and weight, every piece, no matter how small, possessed all the attributes of every other larger piece; and that when any large piece was divided into a great number of smaller pieces, these last, in turn, could be reunited without loss or difficulty again into one whole.
— from Robinson Crusoe's Money; or, The Remarkable Financial Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Remote Island Community by David Ames Wells

I am delighted that the joyous country life of New England is painted in its true colors for children.—
— from The Story of Rolf and the Viking's Bow by Allen French

With war, crime, class antagonisms and property squabbles obliterated, and the management of industry taken from its care, little or no excuse would exist for government.
— from The Red Conspiracy by Joseph J. Mereto