Ignashka, to be sure, is a man of no understanding, God has afflicted him, but you, thank the Lord, are an old man.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

It comes natural to them to lie and cheat in the first place, and then they go on and improve on nature until they arrive at perfection.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

The stout woman stared blankly at Ivan Ivanitch, as though not believing or not understanding him, then she flushed all over, and flung up her hands; the oats were scattered out of her apron and tears spurted from her eyes.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

"You too would have been of no use," observed Pao-yü, "for it will certainly be ready by the time they ought to finish it in."
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

This I told him; but when I applied for it, though I urged the necessity of my occasion, I met with so much shuffling from him, that I began at last to be afraid of losing my money, as I could not recover it by law: for I have already mentioned, that throughout the West Indies no black man's testimony is admitted, on any occasion, against any white person whatever, and therefore my own oath would have been of no use.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself by Olaudah Equiano

And therefore, as I said before, those are despised who are "of no use to themselves or their neighbours," as the saying is, who are idle, lazy, and indifferent.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

He was of no use to me in this crisis.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

The conception of a noumenon is therefore merely a limitative conception and therefore only of negative use.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

(The second meaning is the one now used in technical literature.)
— from Meteorology: The Science of the Atmosphere by Charles Fitzhugh Talman

Clayton saw that it was of no use to urge the boy.
— from Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The essence of national unity was discovered to reside in race and soil; the cultural and spiritual creations of the nation were attributed to man's biological resources.
— from The Grey Book A collection of protests against anti-semitism and the persecution of Jews issued by non-Roman Catholic churches and church leaders during Hitlers rule by Johan M. Snoek

Among a variety of other useless articles was a box of toys, which seemed greatly to please the multitude; but his plates, dishes, mugs, and glasses he saw would be of no use to him, and he therefore exchanged them with the crew for hatchets and other iron tools.
— from Captain Cook: His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries by William Henry Giles Kingston

; landscapes to display the influence of Nature upon the customs, creeds, and philosophy of men—here showing how the broad Chaldean wastes led to the contemplation of the stars, and illustrations of the Zodiac, in elucidation of the mysteries of symbol-worship; fantastic vagaries of earth fresh from the Deluge, tending to impress on early superstition the awful sense of the rude powers of nature; views of the rocky defiles of Laconia; Sparta, neighboured by the "silent Amyclæ," explaining, as it were, geographically, the iron customs of the warrior colony, (arch Tories, amidst the shift and roar of Hellenic democracies,) contrasted by the seas, and coasts, and creeks of Athens and Ionia, tempting to adventure, commerce, and change.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 402, April, 1849 by Various

Olga nestled up to me and whispered: "If only all this eating and drinking were over!"
— from The Confession: A Novel by Maksim Gorky

"You can be of no use to me," I exclaimed, flinging away the small bag of flour.
— from The Jungle Fugitives: A Tale of Life and Adventure in India Including also Many Stories of American Adventure, Enterprise and Daring by Edward Sylvester Ellis

"It's of no use wasting words in this matter," said he, trying to control his angry feelings, "If she whom you call my sister, had acceded to the wishes of her father, (whom she now pretends to mourn) in the choice of a husband, this will would never have been executed.
— from Cora and The Doctor; or, Revelations of A Physician's Wife by Madeline Leslie

If the removal of the strata in these several cases had been more complete, the reefs thus formed would have nearly resembled those barrier-like ones now under discussion.
— from Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — Complete by Charles Darwin