To the receptivity of several forms, different from those of which matter is susceptible by mechanism, must be 328 added a spontaneity of a cause (which therefore cannot be matter), without which no ground can be assigned for those forms.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

If I can get them with the preservation of my own honor and fidelity and self-respect, show me the way and I will get them; but if you require me to lose my own proper good, that you may gain what is no good, consider how unreasonable and foolish you are.
— from The Enchiridion by Epictetus

ELEPHANT, “to have SEEN THE ELEPHANT ,” to be “ up to the latest move,” or “ down to the last new trick;” to be knowing, and not “green,” &c. Possibly a metaphor taken from the travelling menageries, where the ELEPHANT is the finale of the exhibition.—Originally an Americanism .
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

↑ 2 See C. G. Seligman, “The Melanesians of British New Guinea,” Cambridge, 1910.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

The Order of St. Michael, which has been so long in repute amongst us, had no greater commodity than that it had no communication with any other commodity, which produced this effect, that formerly there was no office or title whatever to which the gentry pretended with so great desire and affection as they did to that; no quality that carried with it more respect and grandeur, valour and worth more willingly embracing and with greater ambition aspiring to a recompense purely its own, and rather glorious than profitable.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

"You ought to explain to him that no good can come of that, for he is no longer a boy, and ought to have shaken himself free of such fiddlesticks.
— from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

These incon­sistencies were left as printed; words split at line-end were not generally checked against their OED form.
— from A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary For the Use of Students by J. R. Clark (John R. Clark) Hall

It is only by walking, feeling, counting, measuring the dimensions of things, that we learn to judge them rightly; but, on the other hand, if we were always measuring, our senses would trust to the instrument and would never gain confidence.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

If the girl wants to get married, no good can come of keeping her unmarried.
— from Mrs. Warren's Profession by Bernard Shaw

Hitherto there has been no German culture.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Only the legions from the wealthier parts of the town presented a large number [179] of National Guards clad in military uniform.
— from The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville by Alexis de Tocqueville

There is a collection after, but I see no gold coin in the plate, though the bay is full of yachts, and there must be many wealthy people there.
— from The Cruise of the Elena; Or, Yachting in the Hebrides by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie

There was no great change in his health, but he complained of indescribable sensations in his nervous system, and felt as if losing the whole power of walking, but this was not obvious in his gait, although he walked shorter distances than before.
— from John Lothrop Motley, A Memoir — Complete by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Michael did not greatly covet Buttmann, but he was sure that the surplus from three shillings and sixpence, possibly even from fourpence, would be very welcome.
— from Sinister Street, vol. 1 by Compton MacKenzie

Natural gas - consumption: 2.34 billion cu m (2005 est.)
— from The 2007 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

The hard hand of necessity had forced her into this quicksand of death; the indifference of a naturally generous community, robbed her of the light of intelligence, and left her a helpless victim in the hands of this cultivator of vice.
— from Justice in the By-Ways, a Tale of Life by F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams

The race of the 7th, although a decided (p. 411) victory for the American, was not generally considered as a satisfactory test of sailing qualities; the wind was unsteady in force and direction, and to some extent fluky, but in the opinion of those who were competent to judge, the 'luck' was rather more on the side of the 'Valkyrie' than the 'Vigilant,' the English, however, stoutly declaring the reverse.
— from Yachting, Vol. 2 by Dufferin and Ava, Frederick Temple Blackwood, Marquis of

none Guinea NA Guinea-Bissau NA Guyana Civil Liberties Action Committee or CLAC; Guyana Council of Indian Organizations or GCIO; Trades Union Congress or TUC note: the GCIO and the CLAC are small and active but not well organized Haiti Autonomous Haitian Workers or CATH; Confederation of Haitian Workers or CTH; Federation of Workers Trade Unions or FOS; National Popular Assembly or APN; Papaye Peasants Movement or MPP; Popular Organizations Gathering Power or PROP; Roman Catholic Church Holy See (Vatican City)
— from The 2003 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

But the summer before mentioned (A.D. 999), where King Olaf Trygvason had ruled four years over Norway, Gudrod came to the country, and had many ships of war with him.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson