Let us see if we have a little more light in the knowledge of human and natural things.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

The amount and kind of human ability necessary need not be decreased,—it may even be vastly increased, with proper encouragement and rewards.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

For if a man had been originally the son of a king, or had a nature capable of acquiring an empire or a tyranny or sovereignty, what could be more truly base or evil than temperance—to a man like him, I say, who might freely be enjoying every good, and has no one to stand in his way, and yet has admitted custom and reason and the opinion of other men to be lords over him?—must not he be in a miserable plight whom the reputation of justice and temperance hinders from giving more to his friends than to his enemies, even though he be a ruler in his city?
— from Gorgias by Plato

I am quite sure that if there were anything I ought to know or had any need to know, I should not have to ask you to tell it to me.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

he travels faster than I thought for;—the top-gallant sails!—aye, they should have been kept on her all night.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

The story goes that the kite once had a note like that of other birds, but it aimed at neighing like a high-spirited horse; then since it forgot its former note and could not quite attain to the other sound, it was deprived of both, and hence the note it now utters is less musical than that of any other bird.
— from The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2 by Emperor of Rome Julian

They sung 'jolly, jolly raftman's the life for me,' with a rousing chorus, and then they got to talking about differences betwixt hogs, and their different kind of habits; and next about women and their different ways: and next about the best ways to put out houses that was afire; and next about what ought to be done with the Injuns; and next about what a king had to do, and how much he got; and next about how to make cats fight; and next about what to do when a man has fits; and next about differences betwixt clear-water rivers and muddy-water ones.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

In the disguise of a monk or a pilgrim, he escaped from the castle of St. Angelo, implored the friendship of the king of Hungary at Naples, tempted the ambition of every bold adventurer, mingled at Rome with the pilgrims of the jubilee, lay concealed among the hermits of the Apennine, and wandered through the cities of Italy, Germany, and Bohemia.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

“We are likely to be kept out here all night by that beast.”
— from The Motor Boys Over the Rockies; Or, A Mystery of the Air by Clarence Young

Reymicio, the Emperor of Constantinople, had a daughter named Griana, whom he had resolved to give in marriage to Tarisius, son of the King of Hungary, and nephew to the Empress.
— from Legends & Romances of Spain by Lewis Spence

My knowledge of him and Nattée may perhaps assist me.”
— from Japhet in Search of a Father by Frederick Marryat

The budding womanhood which should have been carefully nurtured by the right kind of home and neighborhood was often left to develop in wild and undirected ways.
— from Dorian by Nephi Anderson

She has the key of her art nest in her pocket.
— from Boris Lensky by Ossip Schubin

“Well answered, my son,” shouted Sigrlin at the top of her voice; “the kinsmen of Hjorvard are not all dead yet, and Starkad will find it out.”
— from Ivar the Viking A romantic history based upon authentic facts of the third and fourth centuries by Paul B. (Paul Belloni) Du Chaillu

[Pg 225] It was printed in an agricultural monthly, issued somewhere in western New York, and it ran as follows: " Mormann & Humm , Importers and Exporters of, and Dealers in, all breeds and varieties of Blooded Live Stock, Big Falls, N.S. Messrs. Mormann and Humm are now perfecting their arrangements for importing from Europe and Asia all the best breeds of Horses, Cattle, Hogs, Dogs, Sheep, Rabbits, Goats, Fowls, &c. &c., and for exporting Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Moose, Badgers, Bears, Foxes, Swifts, Eagles, Swans, Pelicans, Cranes, Loons, &c. &c. They will keep on hand, as near as may be, all the best Blooded Animals and Fowls—gallinaceous and aquatic—fancy and substantial—which they will furnish to their numerous patrons in Europe and America at reasonable rates.
— from The History of the Hen Fever. A Humorous Record by Geo. P. (George Pickering) Burnham

But they were all serious enough, and their interference was prompted by pure kindness of heart, and not from any wicked thoughts.
— from Peck's Sunshine Being a Collection of Articles Written for Peck's Sun, Milwaukee, Wis. - 1882 by George W. (George Wilbur) Peck

To me it seems that ideas, spirits, and relations are all in their respective kinds the object of human knowledge and subject of discourse; and that the term idea would be improperly extended to signify everything we know or have any notion of. 90.
— from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley

{152} Or rather it is because of all numbers, nine is the first square comming of three, which is an odde and perfect number: and eight the first cubick, to wit foure-square on every side like a die proceeding from two, an even number: now a man ought to be quadrat odde (as we say) and singular, yea and perfect: and a woman (no lesse than a die) sure and stedfast, a keeper of home, and not easily removed.
— from Plutarch's Romane Questions With dissertations on Italian cults, myths, taboos, man-worship, aryan marriage, sympathetic magic and the eating of beans by Plutarch