41.] Machiavelli’s writings, for example, were solid enough for the subject, yet were they easy enough to be controverted; and they who have done so, have left as great a facility of controverting theirs; there was never wanting in that kind of argument replies and replies upon replies, and as infinite a contexture of debates as our wrangling lawyers have extended in favour of long suits: “Caedimur et totidem plagis consumimus hostem;” [“We are slain, and with as many blows kill the enemy” (or), “It is a fight wherein we exhaust each other by mutual wounds.”
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the Encyclopædia 51 , which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

The Curetes and the Aetolians were fighting and killing one another round Calydon—the Aetolians defending the city and the Curetes trying to destroy it.
— from The Iliad by Homer

And it's just as I say; they went on shooting each other, year in and year out—making a kind of a religion of it, you see—till they'd done forgot, long ago, what it was all about.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

For this reason, then, that nation had no prophets from that time, but was afflicted with many plagues by kings of alien race, and by the Romans themselves, lest they should fancy that this prophecy of Haggai was fulfilled by that rebuilding of the temple.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Did they know of any relatives?
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

He seized on the bondes and maimed some, killed others, and robbed many of all their property.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

The worst of the whole thing, however, is that even intelligent Chinese are relying upon war between the United States and Japan, and when they find out that the United States won’t go to war just on China’s account, there will be some kind of a revulsion.
— from Letters from China and Japan by Harriet Alice Chipman Dewey

Fin came with his forces to King Olaf, and related to him how all had gone upon his voyage, and told at the same time his suspicion that Thorer had left the country, and gone west to England to King Canute.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

Teams and solitary horses, led or ridden, seen passing into Yonge Street, south of King Street, either out of King Street or out of Front Street, would most likely be on their way to the forge of old Mr. Philip Klinger, a German, whose name we used to think had in it a kind of anvil ring.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

She’d be jealous on my account of Avdotya Romanovna and of you, too, if you want to know... of Avdotya Romanovna certainly.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Yield thee, Sir Knight of Avenel, rescue or no rescue,” said Roland, who had put a second antagonist out of condition to combat, and hastened to prevent Glendinning from renewing the conflict.
— from The Abbot by Walter Scott

The house and some adjoining land were conferred by the king on a retainer, who on attempting to take possession, met with determined opposition from the desperate woman, and her wild son Gilpin, or, as he was familiarly called, the "Cork Lad of Kentmere."
— from Wrestling and Wrestlers Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting by Jacob Robinson

The Mahometans, however, use a common knife, or a razor.
— from Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c by Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de

I know Of a ruby-eyed thrush, of a silver-tailed thrush, Who sat on a spray of a dry willow-bush, And sang to a queen in a palace of snow.
— from Once Upon a Time, and Other Child-Verses by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

[Zoran ANDJELKOVIC, general secretary]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Rasim LJAJIC]; Together for Changes or ZP [leader NA] Political pressure groups and leaders: Alliance for the Future of Kosovo or AAK [Ramush HARADINAJ]; Democratic League of Kosovo or LDK [Ibrahim RUGOVA]; Democratic Party of Kosovo or PDK
— from The 2003 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Make a dab here and there, if you happen to know of any rocks and shoals.
— from The Monikins by James Fenimore Cooper

I cannot ask you why you and she parted, but at least you can tell me if you know of any reason why I should not ask her to be my wife."
— from The Avenger by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim