Not that in this I imitated the sceptics who doubt only that they may doubt, and seek nothing beyond uncertainty itself; for, on the contrary, my design was singly to find ground of assurance, and cast aside the loose earth and sand, that I might reach the rock or the clay.
— from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences by René Descartes

E lecto exsilientes, ad subitum tintinnabuli plausum quasi fulmine territi.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

“Hem!” said Morley, and then taking Gerard by the arm, he walked away with him, leaving Egremont and Sybil to follow them.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

The result of it was that the portrait did greater honour to the person who gave the description than to the painter himself, but at the same time the informer found himself under the obligation of finding the likeness very good; otherwise the artist alleged the most legitimate excuse, and said that if the likeness was not perfect the fault was to be ascribed to the person who had given an imperfect description.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

The whole capital employed, therefore, in such a round-about foreign trade of consumption, will generally give less encouragement and support to the productive labour of the country, than an equal capital employed in a more direct trade of the same kind.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

She gave her, too, the form and appearance of the real Queen, as far as she was able; but she could not restore the lost eye, and, so that the King might not notice it, she turned her upon that side where there was no eye.
— from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Wilhelm Grimm

But this wedding had gone off so particularly well—“quite like a durbar” in the opinion of Lady Edser, and she thoroughly agreed with her.
— from Howards End by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

But returning to Niccola, who was no less excellent as sculptor than as architect; in the façade of the Church of S. Martino in Lucca, under the portico that is above the lesser door, on the left as one enters into the church, where there is seen a Christ Deposed from the Cross, he made a marble scene in half-relief, all full of figures wrought with much diligence, having hollowed out the marble and finished the whole in a manner that gave hope to those who were previously working at the art with very great difficulty, that there soon should come one who, with more facility, would give them better assistance.
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

The utilitarian principle is valuable as a corrective of lix error, and shows to us a side of ethics which is apt to be neglected.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

Abruptly here she stops; then turns away Her loathing eyes, and shuns the sight of day.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil

But take care thou lose not sight of the man, for he often vanisheth when least expected; and shouldst thou fall into the hands of his neighbour, who is ever close [Pg 608] behind him, then wert thou utterly undone."
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 by Various

Count B. doubtless has good taste also, but it is not in the line of antiques at present, as he seldom withdraws his eyes from Angela's face, except when she expresses admiration or asks him some question, when he reveals his knowledge of Florentine history and tradition by long, erudite, and somewhat tiresome explanations.
— from Italian Days and Ways by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

Poor, short-sighted little Vivian, glad to be again in the favor of her adored Imogene, obediently hung the pail upon the nail, and descended to the dining-room, looking embarrassed as she took her seat.
— from The Girl from the Big Horn Country by Mary Ellen Chase

The enemy sets houses on fire all along the levee to illuminate the river, bonfires are lighted everywhere, and suddenly the whole night seems but one terrific roar of cannon.
— from With Fire and Sword by S. H. M. (Samuel Hawkins Marshall) Byers

Well Al you can't blame a man for anything he pulls off when their wife acts like that and if I give that little Ernestine a smack the next time she bulges her lips out at me whose fault is it Al?
— from The Real Dope by Ring Lardner

“Oh! di, di ” (beautiful), cried my young Laotian guide; and when I asked Küe what he thought of it, “Oh! master,” he replied, in his mixed jargon of Latin, English, and Siamese, “the Siamese see Buddha on a stone, and do not see God in these grand things.
— from Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 1 of 2) During the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860 by Henri Mouhot

Then the leader emerged and stood to one side of the long line that pattered through the hole.
— from Oh, Rats! by Miriam Allen DeFord

He wrote no books; he only argued: and what is usually styled his school must be understood as embracing those who attended him in public as listeners and admirers, and who caught his spirit, adopted his philosophic method , and, in after life, elaborated and systematized the ideas they had gathered from him.
— from Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles by B. F. (Benjamin Franklin) Cocker

Do thou neither bring forth thy daughter into my sight, lady, not let us fall into reproach for inconsiderate conduct, for our assembled army, being idle from home occupations, loves evil and slanderous talk.
— from The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I. by Euripides