I begin with observing that the terms of EFFICACY, AGENCY, POWER, FORCE, ENERGY, NECESSITY, CONNEXION, and PRODUCTIVE QUALITY, are all nearly synonymous; and therefore it is an absurdity to employ any of them in defining the rest.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Especially, when it is a question of facts which always take place in the same manner, habit easily numbs curiosity, and [Pg 58] we do not even dream of questioning them.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

The ordinary administration was conducted by those methods which extreme necessity can alone palliate; and the defects of evidence were diligently supplied by the use of torture.
— 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

A nice piece of elder neatly carved and plugged may even be made to do duty for a miniature flute, and so made, various notes are to be extracted from it.
— from Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun by Various

As a matter of fact, supported by everyday experience, no causes are productive of more disorders of digestion than the free indulgence in desserts and sweets by young children.
— from The Care and Feeding of Children A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses by L. Emmett (Luther Emmett) Holt

In the Fijian wars of the early nineteenth century a portion of every captive was eaten, and raids were undertaken solely to procure human flesh for chiefs who had become addicted to cannibalism.
— from The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom by Basil Thomson

There exist numerous claims and protests of this kind, which fortunately have often an anecdotal character.
— from Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremburg, 14 November 1945-1 October 1946, Volume 6 by Various

Cranfield, who presided over the Court of Wards, had quarrelled fiercely with the Chancery, where he said there was "neither Law, Equity, nor Conscience," and pressed the inquiry, partly, it may be, to screen his own Court, which was found fault with by the lawyers.
— from Bacon by R. W. (Richard William) Church

Indeed it is not wholly improbable that these alone represent the old "civil" army; the Second and Third Class "legions," with their extraordinary names ("Comitatenses" and "Pseudo-Comitatenses"), being indeed merely so called by "courtesy," or even "sham courtesy."
— from Early Britain—Roman Britain by John William Edward Conybeare