For as the compound idea of extension, which is real, is composed of such ideas; were these so many non-entities, there would be a real existence composed of non-entities; which is absurd.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Under the stress of morbid feeling, or the overstrain of religious excitement, coarsely organized natures see or create something gross and prurient in things intrinsically sweet and pure, and it happens that when the dance has fallen to their shaping and direction, as in religious rites, then it has received its most objectionable development and perversion.
— from The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Negligible Tales, On With the Dance, Epigrams by Ambrose Bierce

Range —Eastern coast of North America to the plains, and from northern Canada to Florida and eastern Texas.
— from Bird Neighbors An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifty Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes by Neltje Blanchan

These sights were put into production by the Emerson Engineering Co. of Philadelphia, the Raymond Engineering Co. of New York, and by Slocum, Avram & Slocum of New York.
— from America's Munitions 1917-1918 by Benedict Crowell

A silly labouring man, who had taken it into his head that he could not conscientiously attend the Episcopal worship, was seized by a troop of soldiers, "rapidly examined, convicted of non-conformity, and sentenced to death in the presence of his wife, who led one little child by the hand, and it was easy to see was about to give birth to another.
— from History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume II (of 2) Revised Edition by John William Draper

“Nothing, I am sure, could so have touched and roused every class of Northern society, nothing could so have put the terrible realities of the issue we must confront before the most unwilling and the most indifferent minds, as the atrocious deed which, imbecile as it was atrocious, makes the firmest enemy of Slavery the perpetual representative alike of Northern honor and of Northern manhood, and enlists around you, as the perpetual Senator of Massachusetts, every instinct, passion, and necessity of Northern civilization.
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

"Combien de coeurs vous avez ravagé dans un si petit délai que vous avez stationné ici," a French girl once remarked, "et cependant on ne devrait pas refuser aux anglais les baisers qu'ils nous demandent puisqu'ils se donnent pour nous.
— from The Retreat from Mons By one who shared in it by Arthur Corbett-Smith

Before the campaign of 1760 was opened, the infantry of the British Line had increased to ninety-six regiments; England contributing one new corps, Wales one, Scotland five, and Ireland four, all of [500] which were disbanded at the close of the war.
— from A History of the British Army, Vol. 2 First Part—to the Close of the Seven Years' War by Fortescue, J. W. (John William), Sir