The eternal providence, in placing salutary simples beside noxious plants, and making poisonous animals contain their own antidote, has taught the sovereigns of the earth, who are its ministers, to imitate its wisdom.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Be positive scientists, if you please; but ontology has no place in positive science, so leave it alone.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London

“Phineas is pretty shrewd,” said Simeon.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament; indication, particularization, selection, specification.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

The present indicative of vivid narration ( 1590 ) sometimes occurs: as, 331 postquam iam puerī septuennēs sunt, pater onerāvit nāvim magnam , Pl.
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane

This specimen was obtained from an aged Cherokee, who stated that it had formerly been used by his people in playing some sort of game.
— from Illustrated Catalogue of a Portion of the Collections Made During the Field Season of 1881 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 427-510 by William Henry Holmes

They were dismasted very soon after the action began; and so much damaged that, it is to be presumed, they could not hold out any longer against an enemy so superior by an advantageous position, in placing several ships against one.
— from The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 1 by James Harrison

I promise, I promise solemnly!" she assured him, flushed with importance, "and tell 'em not to open it, will you?
— from While Caroline Was Growing by Josephine Daskam Bacon

Heads of Statistical Columns - Lang., Language; Date, Date of Organization; Syn., Synodical connection of congregation or pastor; Comm., Number of communicants; Souls, Number of baptized persons related to the congregation; Syn., Synodical connection of pastor or congregation; P. S., Pupils in Parochial School; S. S., Pupils in Sunday School; W. S., Pupils receiving instruction in religion on weekdays [tr. note: in the table, this column is headed "R.H."]; Prop., Net value of real estate in terms of a thousand dollars.
— from The Lutherans of New York Their Story and Their Problems by George Unangst Wenner

The principal item of news from the Doctor was that he and Nicholls had between them contrived, during the two days of Gaunt’s absence, to erect a very roomy and by no means uncomfortable shelter for the men of the party; in addition to which the whole of their goods and chattels were now placed in perfect safety so far as the weather was concerned.
— from The Missing Merchantman by Harry Collingwood