Now as an insolence of this kind is blamed even in a person who has always been civil to ourselves in particular; nay, in one, whose name is only known to us in history; it follows, that our disapprobation proceeds from a sympathy with others, and from the reflection, that such a character is highly displeasing and odious to every one, who converses or has any intercourse with the person possest of it.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

I know it by experience: if you had breathed the full ecstacy of enjoyment, as you desired, you would have found a weak ardour only at long intervals.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

They have deferred to the advice of the Committee of the House of Commons in the year 1836 to enquire into the state of the Aborigines residing in the vicinity of our colonial settlements, and have concurred with that Committee in thinking that the increase in national wealth and power, promised by the acquisition of New Zealand, would be a most inadequate compensation for the injury which must be inflicted on this kingdom itself by embarking in a measure essentially unjust, and but too certainly fraught with calamity to a numerous and inoffensive people whose title to the soil and to the sovereignty of New Zealand is undisputable and has been solemnly recognised by the British Government.
— from The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony by Thomas Lindsay Buick

The business of her patrons was the manufacture of pistols, a patented, six-barrelled, self-cocking revolver, the first of its kind, I believe, ever invented, and a wonder in its day.
— from Confessions of Boyhood by John Albee

Moreover, their breach with paganism did not amount to much, since they kept the transcript of a ritual drama framed on pagan lines and inspired throughout by pagan ideas and myths; not only kept it, but elevated it into Holy Scripture.
— from The Historical Christ; Or, An investigation of the views of Mr. J. M. Robertson, Dr. A. Drews, and Prof. W. B. Smith by F. C. (Frederick Cornwallis) Conybeare

“I know it; but even in that action he only charged her with his homage to another: she was but love’s messenger.”
— from The Broken Font: A Story of the Civil War, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Moyle Sherer

" "Well, you know," I began evasively, "it's a simple matter, but I can't very well—no, by Jove!"
— from The Vanishing Man A Detective Romance by R. Austin (Richard Austin) Freeman

I have not yet had my sister's answer to Lady Frances's very kind invitation, but expect it tomorrow.
— from The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals. Vol. 2 by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

you, no doubt, know it by experience in your own department, for it pervades every department.
— from Letters of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy from 1833 to 1847 by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Now, you know, it becomes extremely important to me to know anything you will tell me about the progress of your brother's trouble, if it is possible for you to speak of it.'
— from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Part 2: More Ghost Stories by M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James

The centurion had pondered over the mystic power of the word of command, as he knew it by experience in the legion, or in the little troop of which he, though a man under the authority of his higher officers, was the commander; and he knew that even his limited power carried with it absolute authority and compelled obedience.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. Luke by Alexander Maclaren