Freedom is in this sense a pure transcendental idea, which, in the first place, contains no empirical element; the object of which, in the second place, cannot be given or determined in any experience, because it is a universal law of the very possibility of experience, that everything which happens must have a cause, that consequently the causality of a cause, being itself something that has happened, must also have a cause.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

These and the like places terrify the souls of many; election, predestination, reprobation, preposterously conceived, offend divers, with a deal of foolish presumption, curiosity, needless speculation, contemplation, solicitude, wherein they trouble and puzzle themselves about those questions of grace, free will, perseverance, God's secrets; they will know more than is revealed of God in his word, human capacity, or ignorance can apprehend, and too importunate inquiry after that which is revealed; mysteries, ceremonies, observation of Sabbaths, laws, duties, &c., with many such which the casuists discuss, and schoolmen broach, which divers mistake, misconstrue, misapply to themselves, to their own undoing, and so fall into this gulf.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Duchess of Parma, who, like all the French princesses, could not be reconciled to the climate of Italy.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

V. be easy &c. adj.; go on smoothly, run smoothly; have full play &c. n.; go on all fours, run on all fours; obey the helm, work well.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

That Hal's views on art, or the sort of society plays his mother's brother wrote, should have anything to do with the chopping of a few sticks of firewood, passes comprehension; nevertheless the quarrel was as likely to tend in that direction as in the direction of Charles's political prejudices.
— from The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The famous Pike chieftain never recovered from the deceit, and refused to marry Genevra, who died, twenty years afterwards, of a broken heart.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers by Bret Harte

There were graver occasions, and very subtle and complicated ones, when Fyodor Pavlovitch could not have explained the extraordinary craving for some one faithful and devoted, which sometimes unaccountably came upon him all in a moment.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The advantage which the landlord derives from planting can nowhere exceed, at least for any considerable time, the rent which these could afford him; and in an inland country, which is highly cuitivated, it will frequently not fall much short of this rent.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

It began, usually, with a few preliminary, creaking notes, which somehow reminded you of the noise made by a rusty swinging hinge; but occasionally he would change this note and burst forth into a beautiful, clear whistle, which he followed by a curious, throbbing call; and when he uttered this last call, it seemed to fairly shake his speckled body from the point of his yellow beak to the very tip of his long tail feathers.
— from The Three Bears of Porcupine Ridge by Jean M. (Jean May) Thompson

“That is why they say: ‘Roma veduta, fede perduta.‘ ” Cæsar noted that Don Calixto had a great enthusiasm for the aristocracy; and so he took pains, every time he talked with him, to mix the names of a few princes and marquises into the conversation; he also gave him to understand that he lived among them, and went so far as to hint the possibility of being of service to him in Rome, but in a manner ambiguous enough to permit of withdrawing the offer in case of necessity.
— from Cæsar or Nothing by Pío Baroja

This Don Diego is a rare courtier, all bows, smiles, and courtesies; and Madam Isabel his wife (fictitious person) cometh not far behind.
— from Robin Tremayne A Story of the Marian Persecution by Emily Sarah Holt

Other foundation for peace can no man lay or has laid than the acceptance of the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.
— from Our Lady Saint Mary by J. G. H. (Joseph Gayle Hurd) Barry

A veteran hunter when met by a fierce panther could not do better than this.
— from Miss Caprice by St. George Rathborne

"Not at all," said Franklin, "this must be intended for all the Commissioners; only these French people can not write English.
— from Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume 2 (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Wiliam Cabell Bruce

With the usual jocularity of our forefathers, an opportunity for punning could not be passed, so instead of the three cranes, which in the vintry used to lift the barrels of wine, three birds were represented.
— from The History of Signboards, from the Earliest times to the Present Day by John Camden Hotten

The fidgety person "can not bear" the wind whistling through the key-hole, nor the smell of washing, nor the sweep's cry of "svee-eep, svee-eep," nor the beating of carpets, nor thick ink, nor a mewing cat, nor new boots, nor a cold in the head, nor callers for rates and subscriptions.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XI.—April, 1851—Vol. II. by Various

[Pg 100] branches, with usually large and sometimes very large clusters of fruit produced chiefly near the center of the plant and which mature early and all together.
— from Tomato Culture: A Practical Treatise on the Tomato by W. W. (William Warner) Tracy

[Pg 253] The postmaster general in reply stated that the proposition to relieve newspapers altogether from postage could not be considered, but a reduction in the charge was at that time being considered by the treasury.
— from The History of the Post Office in British North America by William Smith