They have commonly neither inclination nor fitness to enter into combinations; and the clamour and sophistry of merchants and manufacturers easily persuade them, that the private interest of a part, and of a subordinate part, of the society, is the general interest of the whole.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Nor are we engaged in unsuccessful war; in which, our misfortunes might easily pervert our judgment; and our minds, sore from the loss of national glory, might feel every blow of fortune as a crime in government.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

We are told that "the complaints made by the merchants were extremely well supported, and showed the folly of preferring unqualified men to that board which directed the naval power of England; and yet the mischief could not be amended, because the more experienced people who had been long in the service were thought disaffected, and it appeared the remedy might have proved worse than the disease."
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

But Ellison maintained that the richest, the truest, and most natural, if not altogether the most extensive province, had been unaccountably neglected.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe

Fabius hoped when the Carthaginians came thither, and encamped on the plain immediately under the foot of the hill, that he would be able to snatch away their 251 plunder without any risk to himself; and, most of all, might even put an end to the whole war by means of Hannibal eludes him.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Nothing of the kind; they only invent them for the most part to furnish a subject for their verses, and that they may pass for lovers, or for men valiant enough to be so; and so it suffices me to think and believe that the good Aldonza Lorenzo is fair and virtuous; and as to her pedigree it is very little matter, for no one will examine into it for the purpose of conferring any order upon her, and I, for my part, reckon her the most exalted princess in the world.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

If a number of political societies enter into a larger political society, the laws which the latter may enact, pursuant to the powers intrusted to it by its constitution, must necessarily be supreme over those societies, and the individuals of whom they are composed.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

If the objective situation is good or neutral, one's own propaganda can supplement the good morale conditions, but even here, it does not and should not meet enemy propaganda frontally.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

[Sir H. M. Elliot proved that the use of 74½ is merely a modification of the figures 74¹⁰⁄₁₆, meaning apparently 84, a sacred number ( Supplemental Glossary , 197).
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

We read “Jason,” and read it with pleasure, but without much of the more essential pleasure which comes from magic and distinction of style.
— from Adventures Among Books by Andrew Lang

My mother became alarmed at my excessive paleness, and proposed a journey for the restoration of my spirits and health.
— from Love After Marriage; and Other Stories of the Heart by Caroline Lee Hentz

Ordinarily, they might expect protons to be knocked out of it, but in this case no protons appeared.
— from Worlds Within Worlds: The Story of Nuclear Energy, Volume 2 (of 3) Mass and Energy; The Neutron; The Structure of the Nucleus by Isaac Asimov

"You see," says Cherin, addressing his troops, "that the most elevated place is not the least dangerous."
— from The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes Historical, Literary, and Humorous—A New Selection by Various

As a matter of fact he has by no means escaped punishment by escaping from England.
— from Wayfaring Men: A Novel by Edna Lyall

These resolutions embraced the admission of California; governments for the territory acquired from Mexico without prohibition or permission of slavery; adjustment of the disputed boundary of Texas and the allowance of ten millions of dollars to that State for the payment of her debt; the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; more effectual provision for the restitution of fugitive slaves.
— from Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 by James Gillespie Blaine

Having wrapped his rug round his lower limbs, and gone through a most elaborate pantomime of making himself comfortable, he condescended to favour his companions with a glance of patronising scrutiny; apparently satisfying himself, by this means, that they were sufficiently respectable to be honoured by his conversation, he turned to Ernest, saying,— “Fine open weather this, sir—jolly for the hunting—none-of your confounded frosts to-day—regular break up yesterday evening, and been thawing like bricks ever since—fond of hunting, sir?”
— from The Fortunes of the Colville Family; or, A Cloud with its Silver Lining by Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published, fifteen years ago, [24] an account of the Gorilla , which has, in its most essential points, been confirmed by subsequent observers, and to which so very little has really been added, that in justice to Dr. Savage I give it almost in full.
— from Man's Place in Nature, and Other Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley