In the number of whom, during my whole life, I have been seeking, according to my ability, to find a place;—whether I have sought in a right way or not, and whether I have succeeded or not, I shall truly know in a little while, if God will, when I myself arrive in the other world—such is my belief.
— from Phaedo by Plato

So I to the office till night, about several businesses, and then went and sat an hour or two with Sir W. Pen, talking very largely of Sir J. Minnes’s simplicity and unsteadiness, and of Sir W. Batten’s suspicious dealings, wherein I was open, and he sufficiently, so that I do not care for his telling of tales, for he said as much, but whether that were so or no I said nothing but what is my certain knowledge and belief concerning him.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Even if all are aggrieved, none feel that they can rely on the others for fidelity in a joint resistance; the strength of none is sufficient to resist alone, and each may reasonably think that it consults its own advantage most by bidding for the favor of the government against the rest.
— from Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill

[78] Thus the end for which an individual is supposed to renounce the unlimited rights of the State of Nature is said ( Leviathan , chap.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

And now, Jim, we're to go in for this here treasure-hunting, with sealed orders too, and I don't like it; and you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we'll save our necks in spite o' fate and fortune.”
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is why the right of the first occupier, which in the state of nature is so weak, claims the respect of every man in civil society.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

We must therefore introduce into this work an explanation of the generations of the three sons of Noah, in so far as that may illustrate the progress in time of the two cities.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

But if this hypothesis of a double is to be able to impose itself upon men with a sort of necessity, it should be the only one possible, or at least, the most economical one.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

At that time I reached the point of drawing comparisons between certain forms of nervousness and sexual abnormalities, and I do not doubt that I could repeat the same observations now, if similar material were at my disposal.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

This is that image which Plato saw dimly in the distance, which, when existing among men, he called, in the language of Homer, 'the likeness of God,' the likeness of a nature which in all ages men have felt to be greater and better than themselves, and which in endless forms, whether derived from Scripture or nature, from the witness of history or from the human heart, regarded as a person or not as a person, with or without parts or passions, existing in space or not in space, is and will always continue to be to mankind the Idea of Good.
— from The Republic by Plato

Whether it was ever meant to be seen or not is scarcely certain; that lady who alone had the intimacy of the Woodwards came out with it from the kitchen one morning, as by violence, and showed it to the boarders after breakfast, while they still loitered at the table, none of the artist’s kindred appearing.
— from Mrs. Farrell by William Dean Howells

The man of this particular age, who, more than any other, exerted an influence destined to be prolonged even to the present time, and probably much longer, who had a cool, clear, and unprejudiced spirit, and who sought the true value of medicine, and recompense for the same in the benefits which it brings to the sick, without scorning or neglecting its scientific side, was Thomas Sydenham, bora at Winford Eagle in 1624.
— from An Epitome of the History of Medicine by Roswell Park

Yes, and they were presented to him by some one needing, I suppose, police connivance and protection .
— from The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani

Had those plans worked as they should, the moment I became sure of Nadia I should have cast aside both Durbin and Marsh.
— from Dick Merriwell Abroad; Or, The Ban of the Terrible Ten by Burt L. Standish

The theories therefore in Arithmetic, if they are abstracted from the names and figures, as likewise from all use and practice, as well as from the particular things numbered, can be supposed to have nothing at all for their object; hence we may see how entirely the science of numbers is subordinate to practice, and how jejune and trifling it becomes when considered as a matter of mere speculation.
— from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley

I have never seen one, nor I suppose ever shall see, but hear of some of my friends sunning themselves at midnight about the North Cape, of whom, if any one will bring me a couple of Arctic fairies in a basket, I think I can pledge our own Squire's and Squire's lady's faith, for the pair's getting some peace, if they choose to take it, and as many water-lily leaves as they can trip upon, on the tarns of Monk-Coniston.
— from Love's Meinie: Three Lectures on Greek and English Birds by John Ruskin

On the meeting of the 24th June, the important question of succession was decided, or rather evaded, as follows:—Manuel, generally understood to be the organ of Fouché in the House of Representatives, made a long speech to show that there was no occasion for a formal recognition of the succession of Napoleon II., since he was, by the terms of the constitution, already in possession of the throne.
— from Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume V. by Walter Scott

The system of needles is suspended from the extremity of a screw, p, which passes into a nut, n, movable between two stationary pieces.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885 by Various