Arriving at this conclusion we can reply directly and positively to these two essential questions of history: (1) What is power? (2) What force produces the movement of the nations? (1) Power is the relation of a given person to other individuals, in which the more this person expresses opinions, predictions, and justifications of the collective action that is performed, the less is his participation in that action. (2) The movement of nations is caused not by power, nor by intellectual activity, nor even by a combination of the two as historians have supposed, but by the activity of all the people who participate in the events, and who always combine in such a way that those taking the largest direct share in the event take on themselves the least responsibility and vice versa.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

d for these, whether any one proves to be a good man or not, I cannot justly be responsible, because I never either promised them any instruction or taught them at all.
— from Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato

This policy had had in Hannibal from his earliest youth a zealous supporter and imitator; and when he succeeded to the command in Iberia he continued it: and accordingly, even in the case of this war with Rome, was acting on his own authority and contrary to the wish of the Carthaginians; for none of the men of note in Carthage approved of his attack upon Saguntum.”
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Whether he is a man or not I cannot tell, for I have never seen him." "How can I get there?" asked Dorothy.
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

The validity of material science, not being warranted by pure insight, cannot be so quickly made out; nevertheless it cannot be denied systemati cally, and the misunderstood transcendentalism which belittles physics contradicts its own basis.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Whether he is a man or not I cannot tell, for I have never seen him."
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

will sen' me, O: Nae ither care in life have I, But live, an' love my Nanie, O. H2 anchor Song—Green Grow The Rashes A Fragment Chor.—Green grow the rashes, O; Green grow the rashes, O; The sweetest hours that e'er I spend, Are spent amang the lasses, O. There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

A complete table of colours must of necessity include certain more or less staring shades, which though they may not be to every one's taste cannot on that account be left out.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

There had I the sight of all my friends and the whole country about: whether they saw me or not I cannot tell: but if they believe it not to be so, let them take the pains to go thither themselves
— from Lucian's True History by of Samosata Lucian

“I neither say nor think so,” said Sancho; “let them look to it; with their bread let them eat it; they have rendered account to God whether they misbehaved or not; I come from my vineyard, I know nothing; I am not fond of prying into other men’s lives; he who buys and lies feels it in his purse; moreover, naked was I born, naked I find myself, I neither lose nor gain; but if they did, what is that to me?
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The making of native ice cream is quite a task.
— from My Attainment of the Pole Being the Record of the Expedition That First Reached the Boreal Center, 1907-1909. With the Final Summary of the Polar Controversy by Frederick Albert Cook

My own name is Caumartin, and I have flown with Lannes more than once in the great meets at Rheims.
— from The Forest of Swords: A Story of Paris and the Marne by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

'You shall go back, Sir, and carry my message; or, no, I could not trust you.
— from Wylder's Hand by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

I never lend money—it is unphilosophical: but I introduced him to old Miriam, who dare do business with the devil himself; and by that move, whether he has the money or not, I cannot tell: but this I can tell, that we have his secret—and so have you now; and if you want more information, the old woman, who enjoys an intrigue as much as she does Falernian, will get it you.’
— from Hypatia — or New Foes with an Old Face by Charles Kingsley

My own name is Callandar.
— from Up the Hill and Over by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay

Posteriorly these teeth are most often noticed in connection with the third molars, usually on a line with other teeth posterior to the last molar.
— from Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs and Results by Eugene S. (Eugene Solomon) Talbot

Simul Agrippina, trepidatione principis usa, ministrum operis Narcissum incusat Cupidinis ac praedarum.
— from Tacitus and Bracciolini. The Annals Forged in the XVth Century by John Wilson Ross

Whether the man in the velour hat recognized me or not, I could not say.
— from The Man Who Couldn't Sleep by Arthur Stringer

“Why, Miss Olaine, no invitation could have given me so much pleasure to-day—and I am sure Tavia feels the same.”
— from Dorothy Dale's Promise by Margaret Penrose