To say the truth, these soporific parts are so many scenes of serious artfully interwoven, in order to contrast and set off the rest; and this is the true meaning of a late facetious writer, who told the public that whenever he was dull they might be assured there was a design in it.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

What he earns, therefore, while he is employed, must not only maintain him while he is idle, but make him some compensation for those anxious and desponding moments which the thought of so precarious a situation must sometimes occasion.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

But the arguments by which they supported those different systems, far from being always demonstrations, were frequently at best but very slender probabilities, and sometimes mere sophisms, which had no other foundation but the inaccuracy and ambiguity of common language.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Ellen shall contribute to the shares of Edward and Edith in case of the payment of said legacy of three thousand dollars ($3000); and second, in addition to her one-third of the said residue of my property, I direct that my daughter Ellen shall have the right, during her lifetime and free from all charge or payment therefor, to occupy my said house and homestead estate and to have, from my other land in Concord, wood for her use at the house and pasturage for her cows; and also that if she should prefer not to occupy said house she shall have the right to take for her use elsewhere and as her own property, such part as she may select of the furniture, plate, pictures and other articles of household use or ornament in my house, not herein otherwise disposed of.
— from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills by Virgil M. (Virgil McClure) Harris

Nearly a century later Servia produced a strong man, Stephen Dobroslav, called Boistlav by the Greeks; he forced the other Zupans into submission, assumed full power, and regained the independence of his country.
— from The Passing of the Turkish Empire in Europe by B. Granville (Bernard Granville) Baker

In some other countries, and particularly in France, the improvement of agriculture gains ground still more decidedly upon population, because though [pg 485] agriculture, except in a few provinces, advances slowly, population advances still more slowly, and even with increasing slowness, its growth being kept down, not by poverty, which is diminishing, but by prudence.
— from Principles of Political Economy Abridged with Critical, Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, and a Sketch of the History of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill

Chicago stopped social promotion and started mandatory summer school to help students who are behind to catch up.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents