He is a charming fellow, I allow, when his news is correct; but when it is not, there are fifty others in the world who would do better than he.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war.
— from Common Sense by Thomas Paine

in number they are fully five for one of the large Species of the Swan's.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

There is no taste and fancy in tattered shirts.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

But there is another response to this implement: namely, the admiration for an unknown toolmaker who combined in an elementary striking tool a hammerhead of well-weighted proportion to be wielded gently through the medium of an extremely delicate handle.
— from Woodworking Tools 1600-1900 by Peter C. Welsh

What is believed, however true it may be, is not the actual fact that makes the belief true, but a present event related to the fact.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell

Is not this a free country?” “Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Our Host thought it necessary to apologize for the poorness of the supper: 'He had not been apprized of our coming; He could only offer us such fare as had been intended for his own family:' '
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. (Matthew Gregory) Lewis

Far pleasanter is it now to ascend from the main hall through a couple of stages of upper and airier chambers (now used as apartments by part of the castle folk) until by a dizzy ladder we reach the summit of the donjon itself.
— from Life on a Mediaeval Barony A Picture of a Typical Feudal Community in the Thirteenth Century by William Stearns Davis

We are like beings asleep or lost to the knowledge of themselves and all things, till, awakening to the appeal of the pure light and the balmy air, they look upon what is not themselves; and, finding it fair and beautiful, learn in loving it to feel and know themselves.
— from Means and Ends of Education by John Lancaster Spalding

The author—the writer, rather—feels it necessary to apologize for the long delay which has occurred in the appearance of this work.
— from The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1 of 4 by H. P. (Helena Petrovna) Blavatsky

So Jacob candidly acknowledged that “the banks were crowding a little,” whenever he found it necessary to ask for the use of a fellow-townsman’s name to his paper.
— from David Fleming's Forgiveness by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson

Have not great civilizers, as they are "called," always immolated men, and [Pg 201] is it not therefore, as far as has been "proved," that Robespierre was the continuer of Jesus Christ?
— from The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England. volume 3 (of 6) Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 3 by Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de

Is not that a finer thing which convinces us from the [7] instinct of the painter than that which satisfies us from his knowledge of it?’
— from Kate Greenaway by M. H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann

The garment side of the patch In patching material such as checked or striped ginghams, percales, or other materials, the stripes or the checks must match so that the patch is not too apparent ( Figure 40 ).
— from The Library of Work and Play: Needlecraft by Effie Archer Archer

is not that a fair simulation?'
— from The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Volume 1 by George Meredith

Is not this a fountain that brings forth sweet and bitter waters?
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Complete Contents Dresden Edition—Twelve Volumes by Robert Green Ingersoll

While up till lately a family of peasants needed at least seventeen to twenty acres to live on the produce of the soil—and we know how peasants live—we can now no longer say what is the minimum area on which all that is necessary to a family can be grown, even including articles of luxury, if the soil is worked by means of intensive culture.
— from The Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz