Nothing is so firmly believed, as what we least know Nothing is so supple and erratic as our understanding Nothing noble can be performed without danger Nothing presses so hard upon a state as innovation Nothing so grossly, nor so ordinarily faulty, as the laws Nothing tempts my tears but tears Nothing that so poisons as flattery Number of fools so much exceeds the wise O Athenians, what this man says, I will do O my friends, there is no friend:
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

After the six friends, named in Problem 5, had returned from their tour, three of them, Barry, Cole, and Dix, agreed, with two other friends of theirs, Lang and Mill, that the five should meet, every day, at a certain table d’hôte .
— from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll

How Mr. Winkle cursed his companion’s devoted friendship internally, as they walked silently along, side by side, for some minutes, each immersed in his own meditations!
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

O wretch that thy fortunes should moralize Esops fables, and make tales, prophesies.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

‘Tis a misfortune to be at such a pass, that the best test of truth is the multitude of believers in a crowd, where the number of fools so much exceeds the wise: “Quasi vero quidquam sit tam valde, quam nil sapere, vulgare.”
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

In coal works, and mines of every kind, the machinery necessary, both for drawing out the water, and for other purposes, is frequently still more expensive.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

At no era in the world's history can we find so many European statesmen after peace and the good government of which peace is the best ally.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

"You don't believe that; it is not your real feeling," said Maggie, earnestly.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Mr. Brownlow paced the room to and fro for some minutes; evidently so much disturbed by the beadle's tale, that even Mr. Grimwig forbore to vex him further.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

No exclamation of surprise escaped the father, nor was any question asked, or reply given, for several minutes; each appearing to await the moment when he might speak, without betraying womanish curiosity or childish impatience.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

"My dear Fleda!" said Mrs. Evelyn, with a funny expression, "that can never be, you know; don't you remember what your favourite, Longfellow, says, 'Affection never is wasted'? Florence, my love, just hand me 'Evangeline,' there I want you to listen to it, Mr. Stackpole, here it is 'Talk not of wasted affection: affection never was wasted: If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters returning Back to their springs, shall fill them full of refreshment.
— from Queechy, Volume II by Susan Warner

For some months everything went well with the Provo settlers, but in the fall the Indians began stealing, and once in awhile an arrow came uncomfortably near some settler when away from the fort.
— from A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Nephi Anderson

Translator's Preface 339 Author's Preface 341 CHAPTER I Time and labor spent on art—Lives stunted in its service—Morality sacrificed to and anger justified by art—The rehearsal of an opera described 345 [ix] CHAPTER II Does art compensate for so much evil?—What is art?—Confusion of opinions—Is it "that which produces beauty"?—The word "beauty" in Russian—Chaos in æsthetics 351 CHAPTER III Summary of various æsthetic theories and definitions, from Baumgarten to to-day 360 CHAPTER IV Definitions of art founded on beauty—Taste not definable—A clear definition needed to enable us to recognize works of art 376 CHAPTER V Definitions not founded on beauty—Tolstoï's definition—The extent and necessity of art—How people in the past have distinguished good from bad in art 383 CHAPTER VI How art for pleasure has come into esteem—Religions indicate what is considered good and bad—Church Christianity—The Renaissance—Skepticism of the upper classes—They confound beauty with goodness 389 CHAPTER VII An æsthetic theory framed to suit this view of life 396 CHAPTER VIII Who have adopted it?—Real art needful for all men—Our art too expensive, too unintelligible, and too harmful for the masses—The theory of "the elect" in art 401 CHAPTER IX Perversion of our art—It has lost its natural subject-matter—Has no flow of fresh feeling—Transmits chiefly three base emotions 406 [x] CHAPTER X Loss of comprehensibility—Decadent art—Recent French art—Have we a right to say it is bad and that what we like is good art?—The highest art has always been comprehensible to normal people—What fails to infect normal people is not art 412 CHAPTER XI Counterfeits of art produced by: Borrowing; Imitating; Striking; Interesting—Qualifications needful for production of real works of art, and those sufficient for production of counterfeits 436 CHAPTER XII Causes of production of counterfeits—Professionalism—Criticism—Schools of art 446 CHAPTER XIII Wagner's "Nibelung's Ring" a type of counterfeit art—Its success, and the reasons thereof 455 CHAPTER XIV Truths fatal to preconceived views are not readily recognized—Proportion of works of art to counterfeits—Perversion of taste and incapacity to recognize art—Examples 468 CHAPTER XV The quality of art, considered apart from its subject-matter —The sign of art: Infectiousness—Incomprehensible to those whose taste is perverted—Conditions of infection: Individuality; Clearness; Sincerity 476 CHAPTER XVI
— from The Kingdom of God is Within You; What is Art? by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Quite charmed with this ingenious method of interpreting [Pg 166] the Holy Scriptures, I begged the stranger for some more expositions of the same kind.
— from Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography. by Solomon Maimon

He liked to refer occasionally to his humble descent from simple merchants; especially when he felt his superiority as a quiet, self-contained man of the world, who could afford to laugh at the irritability and sensitiveness of others.
— from Simon Eichelkatz; The Patriarch. Two Stories of Jewish Life by Ulrich Frank

There was such a variety of odours in the room, and such a quantity of things to eat, that I could not get out a word; and my friend, seeing my embarrassment, hastened to say to me
— from Thoughts on Art and Autobiographical Memoirs of Giovanni Duprè by Giovanni Duprè

O wonder, what art thou That fillest so mine eyes with rain-shine?
— from Caliban by the Yellow Sands: A Community Masque of the Art of the Theatre by Percy MacKaye

in how many other ways besides, divers of our age, being their own schoolmasters, or rather scholars of the devil, have not forborne or feared to speak and write against the most excellent and most blessed Sacrament of the Altar, affirming that the said Sacrament is nothing more than a bare figure, and that there is not in the same Sacrament the very body and blood of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, but only a naked sign, a token, a memorial and a remembrance only of the same, if they take it for so much even and do not call it (as they are wont to do) an idol and very plain idolatry.”
— from The Eve of the Reformation Studies in the Religious Life and Thought of the English people in the Period Preceding the Rejection of the Roman jurisdiction by Henry VIII by Francis Aidan Gasquet