Though all capitals are destined for the maintenance of productive labour only, yet the quantity of that labour which equal capitals are capable of putting into motion, varies extremely according to the diversity of their employment; as does likewise the value which that employment adds to the annual produce of the land and labour of the country.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

In order to this we must first shew the correspondence of passions in men and animals, and afterwards compare the causes, which produce these passions.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

—A class of people in Mysore, who are Muhammadans, dress like Lambādis, but do not intermarry with them.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

But if we take the former, and let every idea have a nerve of its own, then every nerve must be capable of propagating its motion into many other nerves; and again, there is no reason assignable, why the vibration m should arise, rather than any other ad libitum.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

'This noxious fool' (meaning the manager) 'is capable of prying into my boxes when I am not looking.'
— from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Another day I will do the same; I will sit in my library, in my nightcap and powdering gown, and give as much trouble as I can; or, perhaps, I may defer it till Kitty runs away.”
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

He was regarded by them as a man of great force of character; of power in many ways.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The first and most important deduction from the principles we have so far laid down is that the general will alone can direct the State according to the object for which it was instituted, i.e. the common good: for if the clashing of particular interests made the establishment of societies necessary, the agreement of these very interests made it possible.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nothing in the whole circuit of physiology is more wonderful.
— from The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Charles Darwin

Constancy of Psychotherapy in Medicine.
— from Psychotherapy Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh

At length the report being made to the house by Mr. Charles Townshend, they unanimously agreed to an address, representing to his majesty, that many great losses had been sustained by the trade of the kingdom, in time of war, from the want of a safe harbour on the western coast of the island, for the reception and protection of merchants’ ships, and sending out cruisers; that the harbour of Milford-haven, in the county of Pembroke, is most advantageously situated, and if properly defended and secured, in every respect adapted to the answering those important purposes; they, therefore, humbly besought his majesty, that he would give immediate directions for erecting batteries, with proper cover, on the sides of the said harbour, in the most convenient places for guarding the entrance called Hubber-stone-road, and also such other fortifications as might be necessary to secure the interior parts of the harbour, and that, until such batteries and fortifications could be completed, some temporary defence might be provided for the immediate protection of the ships and vessels lying in the said harbour; finally, they assured him the house would make good to his majesty all such expenses as should be incurred for these purposes.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II. by T. (Tobias) Smollett

"I never saw such a crowd of pinchers in my life."
— from The Summons by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason

Why so admirable an institution has never been introduced into Europe (except in the Bains Chinois of Paris) is more than I can tell.
— from The Lands of the Saracen Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and Spain by Bayard Taylor

“You mistake, Bagenal,” said the Knight, gently; “Mr. O'Reilly is come with a very different object,—one which I trust he will deem it no breach of confidence or propriety in me if I mention it to you.”
— from The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Charles James Lever

In stating a single condition of peace I mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the Government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents

—In accordance with the general law of the correlation of parts, it may be inferred, from the description and measurements of the pupal antennæ immediately to be given, that this abnormal creature was developed within a pupa of the same general structure, and of about the size, as the pupæ whence Scalpellum, Alcippe , and many other cirripedes are developed.
— from A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2) The Balanidæ, (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc., etc. by Charles Darwin

Their condition of poverty is mentioned.
— from The Revelation Explained An Exposition, Text by Text, of the Apocalypse of St. John by F. G. (Frederick George) Smith

'I ask your opinion of a sonnet written to order on the occasion of the first feast since his canonisation proper of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, a laybrother of our Order, who for 40 years acted as hall porter to the College of Palma in Majorca; he was, it is believed, much favoured by God with heavenly light and much persecuted by evil spirits.
— from Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published by Gerard Manley Hopkins