He certainly might have heard Mr. Elton speak with more unreserve than she had ever done, and Mr. Elton might not be of an imprudent, inconsiderate disposition as to money matters; he might naturally be rather attentive than otherwise to them; but then, Mr. Knightley did not make due allowance for the influence of a strong passion at war with all interested motives.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

Within its convenient circuit, what phantasies and dreams might not be realized?
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

And who is to say they may not be right?
— from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed

you will have to embrace both mother and daughter, but—N. B., on the chin, so that the paint may not be rubbed off.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Men, who have up to now been roving in the woods, by taking to a more settled manner of life, come gradually together, form separate bodies, and at length in every country arises a distinct nation, united in character and manners, not by regulations or laws, but by uniformity of life and food, and the common influence of climate.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

It is the acute, florid type, and presents a striking picture, but must not be regarded as the common form of the disorder.
— from Scurvy, Past and Present by Alfred F. Hess

Yet your late husband has been dead nearly one year, and—" "You forget that his death was never absolutely proved, and may not have taken place; so that I may not be really a widow," she said, catching at the straw of escape that the fact afforded.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

The table of this division of the conception of nothing (the corresponding division of the conception of something does not require special description) must therefore be arranged as follows: NOTHING AS 1 As Empty Conception without object, ens rationis 2 3 Empty object of Empty intuition a conception, without object, nihil privativum ens imaginarium 4 Empty object without conception, nihil negativum We see that the ens rationis is distinguished from the nihil negativum or pure nothing by the consideration that the former must not be reckoned among possibilities, because it is a mere fiction—though not self-contradictory, while the latter is completely opposed to all possibility, inasmuch as the conception annihilates itself.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

He wondered to hear me talk of such chargeable and expensive wars; that certainly we must be a quarrelsome people, or live among very bad neighbors and that our generals must needs be richer than our kings.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift

The partial and increasing favor of Constantine may naturally be referred to the esteem which he entertained for the moral character of the Christians; and to a persuasion, that the propagation of the gospel would inculcate the practice of private and public virtue.
— 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

It is probable that such prices as these will prevail only in the largest cities, and therefore they must not be regarded as general.
— from Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation by William T. (William Temple) Hornaday

And should there be no check put to this disintegration of society, then must come what the radicals are now so anxious to obtain, the equitable adjustment—and in that case it is a problem how far that may not be really equitable ; for society may, by degrees, arrive to a state so anomalous as to warrant that the few should be sacrificed for the benefit of the community at large.
— from Olla Podrida by Frederick Marryat

The count was utterly amazed at him, but he bid him not to be frightened; said he had a request to make of him, and entreated that he might not be refused.
— from The Fairy Mythology Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley

Steep the herbs in half a pint of cold water and when all their virtue is extracted stir in a little bran or rye meal to thicken the liquid; the herbs must not be removed from the liquid.
— from The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Cooking, Toilet and Household Recipes, Menus, Dinner-Giving, Table Etiquette, Care of the Sick, Health Suggestions, Facts Worth Knowing, Etc., Etc. The Whole Comprising a Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home by Hugo Ziemann

But, in the first place, it may not be really possible to approximate to it: since any particular existing moral rule, though not the ideally best even for such beings as existing men under the existing circumstances, may yet be the best that they can be got to obey: so that it would be futile to propose any other, or even harmful, as it might tend to impair old moral habits without effectively replacing them by new ones.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

The Moor replies That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus And great affinity and that in wholesome wisdom He might not but refuse you; but he protests he loves you And needs no other suitor but his likings To take the safest occasion by the front To bring you in again.
— from Othello by William Shakespeare

There is not one of all the many heresies that have arisen regarding the Person and natures of Jesus Christ that may not be refuted from the Gospel of St. John.
— from The Gospel of St. John by Joseph MacRory

"You can't possibly tell it to me now, Boris," replied Nora; "don't attempt to come too near, disarranging my clouds.
— from Red Rose and Tiger Lily; Or, In a Wider World by L. T. Meade

“We do not, at the present time, desire to offer further recommendations upon the subject of finance which must necessarily be regulated by the approval of the government to the principles of the proposals above formulated except that, in our opinion, the principles of reduction of the sinking fund in the event of loss to the State by an increase of the value
— from Irish History and the Irish Question by Goldwin Smith