And now grief is taking away A my strength, and no long period of my life remains; and in my early days am I cut off; nor is death grievous to me, now about to get rid of my sorrows by death.
— from The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII by Ovid

“Whether she’s coming or not, I don’t care,” he said to himself.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Whether it was perfectly correct or not, it did look serious enough.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad

But if one could be certain of nothing in dealing with creatures so incalculable as human beings, there were explanations of Blanche Stroeve's behaviour which were at all events plausible.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

Whether this is the case or not, I do not profess to know.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell

Thus in so far as religion assumes the world to be directed by conscious agents who may be turned from their purpose by persuasion, it stands in fundamental antagonism to magic as well as to science, both of which take for granted that the course of nature is determined, not by the passions or caprice of personal beings, but by the operation of immutable laws acting mechanically.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

Obviously the conception of personal agents is more complex than a simple recognition of the similarity or contiguity of ideas; and a theory which assumes that the course of nature is determined by conscious agents is more abstruse and recondite, and requires for its apprehension a far higher degree of intelligence and reflection, than the view that things succeed each other simply by reason of their contiguity or resemblance.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

The danger is a formidable one; for if the course of nature is dependent on the man-god’s life, what catastrophes may not be expected from the gradual enfeeblement of his powers and their final extinction in death?
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

11 In all such cases our nature is drawn towards that which affects it most powerfully: hence an image lures us away from an argument: judgment is paralysed, matters of fact disappear from view, eclipsed by the superior blaze.
— from On the Sublime by active 1st century Longinus

Butler acquiesced in my proposals, but, when it came to the words themselves, he wrote practically all the libretto, as he had done in the case of Narcissus ; I did no more than suggest a few phrases and a few lines here and there.
— from Samuel Butler: A Sketch by Henry Festing Jones

Whether it were in consequence or not, I don't know, but as soon as Dr. Kingston could persuade himself that a shock would do no harm, he wrote a polite letter explaining that the unfortunate occurrence from which Mr. Yolland was suffering had so destroyed the confidence of his patients, that he felt it due to them to take steps to dissolve the partnership.
— from My Young Alcides: A Faded Photograph by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Yet Edwards, Original Sin, 479, seems to allude to the Berkeleyan philosophy when he says: “ The course of nature is demonstrated by recent improvements in philosophy to be indeed ... nothing but the established order and operation of the Author of nature ” (see Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 16, 308, 309).
— from Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3) by Augustus Hopkins Strong

"Careful or not, I don't see why I should not talk as well as you."
— from Through Night to Light: A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen

“Far as the gold country?” “Oh, no: I don’t ask that.
— from To Win or to Die: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Craze by George Manville Fenn

1st, It is very properly argued, that our whole knowledge of the normal course of nature is derived from experience; that a law is a mere generalization from that experience, and is not any thing intrinsically or necessarily true.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 by Various

In the Visayas, tobacco is cultivated in Panay Island and on the east coast of Negros Island (district of Escalante) and Cebú Island—also to a limited extent in Mindanao.
— from The Philippine Islands A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule by Foreman, John, F.R.G.S.

The case of Northamptonshire is difficult.
— from The Vikings by A. (Allen) Mawer

I may be wrong, but I have given this matter a good deal of attention, and whether this theory be correct or not I do not care.
— from Bill Nye's Chestnuts Old and New by Bill Nye