“Ornaments,” he said, “if not kept subordinate, however intrinsically beautiful, injure the general effect—therefore a judicious orator will sacrifice all such as draw the attention from his principal design.”
— from Tales and Novels — Volume 07 Patronage [part 1] by Maria Edgeworth

No tidings yet—I listen, but in vain; Of her, my beautiful belovèd foe, What or to think or say I nothing know, So thrills my heart, my fond hopes so sustain, Danger to some has in their beauty lain; Fairer and chaster she than others show; God haply seeks to snatch from earth below Virtue's best friend, that heaven a star may gain, Or rather sun.
— from The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch by Francesco Petrarca

Oh, but who could walk all the way home with a wild handsome lad, and be on her guard all the time? Inger is too weak, she can only smile and say: "I never knew such a one."
— from Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun

Slovenia 46.6 km Solomon Islands 5,313 km Somalia 3,025 km South Africa 2,798 km South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands NA km Southern Ocean 17,968 km Spain 4,964 km Spratly Islands 926 km
— from The 2008 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

"You see, I never knew," she wrote in her memory book, "what might happen.
— from The Tin Soldier by Temple Bailey

All [Pg 304] readjustment in which the nature and effect of sin is not kept steadily in view must lead to serious error—error which misrepresents God's character and government, is inconsistent with facts meeting us on every side, and must prove most hurtful to man.
— from Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 by James Kennedy

“It is very true,” she said, “I never knew such good people; and they ought to be; so favored by Heaven, and leading a life which, if any thing earthly can, must give them, however faint, some foretaste of our joys hereafter.
— from Lothair by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield