The kingdoms of Armenia and Iberia were permitted, by the mutual,though tacit consent of both empires, to resume their doubtful neutrality.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

If there are any exceptions to be made in either case of better evidence, it will be found in favor of pagan religion; for its adherents are able in many cases to point to imperishable monuments of stone erected in commemoration of their miracles.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

Why Plato, who was himself a poet, and whose dialogues are poems and dramas, should have been hostile to the poets as a class, and especially to the dramatic poets; why he should not have seen that truth may be embodied in verse as well as in prose, and that there are some indefinable lights and shadows of human life which can only be expressed in poetry—some elements of imagination which always entwine with reason; why he should have supposed epic verse to be inseparably associated with the impurities of the old Hellenic mythology; why he should try Homer and Hesiod by the unfair and prosaic test of utility,—are questions which have always been debated amongst students of Plato.
— from The Republic by Plato

He can only be enslaved whilst he is spiritually weak enough to listen to reason.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw

To the editor they appeared, in early youth, so essentially poetic, as to justify the rash attempt to embody them in an Epic Poem, called Samor, commenced at Eton, and finished before he had arrived at the maturer taste of manhood.—M.] Hengist, who boldly aspired to the conquest of Britain, exhorted his countrymen to embrace the glorious opportunity: he painted in lively colors the fertility of the soil, the wealth of the cities, the pusillanimous temper of the natives, and the convenient situation of a spacious solitary island, accessible on all sides to the Saxon fleets.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

His is the right, if he deem fit, To bid me, throned as monarch, sit, Or in a coat of bark expel, And deerskin, in the wood to dwell.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Parlour games (dominos, halma, tiddledywinks, spilikins, cup and ball, nap, spoil five, bezique, twentyfive, beggar my neighbour, draughts, chess or backgammon): embroidery, darning or knitting for the policeaided clothing society: musical duets, mandoline and guitar, piano and flute, guitar and piano: legal scrivenery or envelope addressing: biweekly visits to variety entertainments: commercial activity as pleasantly commanding and pleasingly obeyed mistress proprietress in a cool dairy shop or warm cigar divan: the clandestine satisfaction of erotic irritation in masculine brothels, state inspected and medically controlled: social visits, at regular infrequent prevented intervals and with regular frequent preventive superintendence, to and from female acquaintances of recognised respectability in the vicinity: courses of evening instruction specially designed to render liberal instruction agreeable.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

Nevertheless, the statistics for the year ending June 30, 1902, show this general result: The total value of that year’s import of these “whole carpets, Oriental, Berlin,” etc., was a trifle below three million dollars.
— from The Oriental Rug A Monograph on Eastern Rugs and Carpets, Saddle-Bags, Mats & Pillows, with a Consideration of Kinds and Classes, Types, Borders, Figures, Dyes, Symbols, etc. Together with Some Practical Advice to Collectors. by William De Lancey Ellwanger

General Will may be embodied in one man willing universally; but it can only be embodied in the State when the mass of the citizens so wills.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Or three regiments may form the line, and two may be in column, one behind each wing.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

He believes that the intricate law by which 'a purely female line of descent is secured, although only through the medium of the husband,' can only be explained 'as an adaptation of maternal laws by a tribe which was on a paternal stage.
— from Method in the Study of Totemism by Andrew Lang

As regards wind-falls, it is only necessary to state that, although these can only be employed for an inferior kind of drink, yet even this may be improved by care, as thus:—Instead of picking up the apples while they are still wet with dew, they should be gathered in as dry a state as possible, and then not, as is too often the case, huddled together in a heap
— from Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation by James Buckman

fear of horned animals, of earthworms, of cats, of blight, etc.
— from Tics and Their Treatment by Henry Meige

But the devotion of the proceeds to the foundation of private families, instead of to educational endowment, can only be explained and not excused by the exigencies of political tactics.
— from The History of England - a Study in Political Evolution by A. F. (Albert Frederick) Pollard

It was there shown [Pg 243] that the production of exceptional wealth by those men whose peculiar powers alone enable them to produce it, involves efforts on their part which, unlike labour, cannot be exacted of them by any outside compulsion, but can only be educed by the prospect of a secured reward; and that this reward consists, as has just been said, of the enjoyment of a part of the product proportionate to the magnitude of the whole.
— from A Critical Examination of Socialism by W. H. (William Hurrell) Mallock

The profound and remarkable similarity in the embryonic development of man and the other vertebrates can only be explained when we admit their descent from a common ancestor.
— from The Evolution of Man by Ernst Haeckel

There appear to be three pleasures, one genuine and two spurious: now the transgression of the tyrant reaches a point beyond the spurious; he has run away from the region of law and reason, and taken up his abode with certain slave pleasures which are his satellites, and the measure of his inferiority can only be expressed in a figure.
— from The Republic by Plato

The best defence of Louisbourg, however, was the craggy shore, which, for leagues on either side, was accessible only at a few points, and, even there, a landing could only be effected with the greatest difficulty.
— from With Wolfe in Canada: The Winning of a Continent by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

To this the supporters of the bill replied that government contemplated such retaliation; that it was intended to throw the burden upon England and compel her to carry it; that Congress had tried an embargo, the principle of which was non-exportation; that it had tried non-intercourse, the principle of which was non-importation; and now, since both these had failed, it must try a navigation law that could only be countervailed by restrictive measures to be carried out by England herself.
— from The Life of Albert Gallatin by Henry Adams