Each party, however in appearance peaceable, carries on a design upon the others; and it is owing to this, that in all questions, whether concerning foreign or domestic affairs, the whole generally turns more upon some party-matter than upon the nature of the thing itself; whether such a step will diminish or augment the power of the crown, or how far the privileges of the subject are likely to be extended or restricted by it.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

EMILIA Pray heaven it be state matters, as you think, And no conception nor no jealous toy Concerning you.
— from Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare

There can be no question that Stapleton had a confidant, though it is unlikely that he ever placed himself in his power by sharing all his plans with him.
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

She enjoys punching holes in paper with the stiletto, and I supposed it was because she could examine the result of her work; but we watched her one day, and I was much surprised to find that she imagined she was writing a letter.
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

To this section belong economists, philanthropists, humanitarians, improvers of the condition of the working class, organisers of charity, members of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, temperance fanatics, hole-and-corner reformers of every imaginable kind.
— from The Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels

Radio jamming is ineffectual except in the case of an enemy possessing hopelessly inferior signal equipment.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

I could not spend much time with him, but prayed him come with his brother, who was with him, to dine with me to-day; which he did do and I had a great deal of his good company; and a most excellent person he is as any I know, and one that I am sorry should be lost and buried in a little country town, and would be glad to remove him thence; and the truth is, if he would accept of my sister’s fortune, I should give L100 more with him than to a man able to settle her four times as much as, I fear, he is able to do; and I will think of it, and a way how to move it, he having in discourse said he was not against marrying, nor yet engaged.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

When my father had danced his white bear backwards and forwards through half a dozen pages, he closed the book for good an' all,—and in a kind of triumph redelivered it into Trim's hand, with a nod to lay it upon the 'scrutoire, where he found it.—Tristram, said he, shall be made to conjugate every word in the dictionary, backwards and forwards the same way;—every word, Yorick, by this means, you see, is converted into a thesis or an hypothesis;—every thesis and hypothesis have an off-spring of propositions;—and each proposition has its own consequences and conclusions; every one of which leads the mind on again, into fresh tracks of enquiries and doubtings.—The force of this engine, added my father, is incredible in opening a child's head.—'Tis enough, brother Shandy, cried my uncle Toby, to burst it into a thousand splinters.—
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Each practice has its advantages and disadvantages.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

Even Peterie heard it down in the darkling mine, swallowed a ball of potassium, and died on the spot.
— from Aileen Aroon, A Memoir With other Tales of Faithful Friends and Favourites by Gordon Stables

The conversation at first consisted of mutual declarations of disposition to reasonable accommodations, but I suppose each party had its own ideas of what should be meant by reasonable .
— from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Evans, E. P. Henrik Ibsen, his early career as poet and playwright. Atlan.
— from Henrik Ibsen A Bibliography of Criticism and Biography with an Index to Characters by Ina Ten Eyck Firkins

I was a superior being, armed with an invincible intelligence, and I enjoyed prodigious happiness in the sensation of my power.
— from Afloat (Sur l'eau) by Guy de Maupassant

And because it was altogether more a sublime than an earthly passion, he indulged himself in it with a con science void of offence.
— from Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry by Wilhelm Alfred Braun

Colonel Verkhóffsky, confident in his gigantic strength and sure eye, posted himself in the thickest of the wood, and halted at a small savannah to which converged the tracks of numerous wild-boars.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 331, May, 1843 by Various

Every people has its own faith.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 11, April, 1870 to September, 1870 by Various

For they know that each man has his part of the work for which he is responsible; each process has its precise method by which it is to be performed; each account has its exact place where it is to be kept.
— from Practical Ethics by William De Witt Hyde

Lusit amabiliter: donec jam saevus apertam In rabiem coepit verti jocus, et per honestas Ire domos impune minax.
— from The Works of Richard Hurd, Volume 1 (of 8) by Richard Hurd