A providential optimism, on the contrary, not merely predetermines events but discounts values; and it reduces every mortal aspiration, every pang of conscience; every wish that things should be better than they are, to a blind impertinence, nay, to a sacrilege.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

"The astral body is not subject to cold or heat or other natural conditions.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Thy virgins girdle now untie, And in thy nuptiall bed (loves altar) lye 75 A pleasing sacrifice; now dispossesse Thee of these chaines and robes which were put on T'adorne the day, not thee; for thou, alone, Like vertue'and truth, art best in nakednesse; This bed is onely to virginitie 80 A grave, but, to a better state, a cradle; Till now thou wast but able To be what now thou art; then that by thee No more be said, I may bee , but, I am , To night put on perfection, and a womans name .
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

Nay, already, in the afternoon, behold is not this your Sorceress Dubarry with the handkerchief at her eyes, mounting D'Aiguillon's chariot; rolling off in his Duchess's consolatory arms?
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

Separating the character from the furtone, by an easy and necessary effort of thought, we pronounce these persons alike, and give them the appearance: But is not able entirely to prevail our sentiment.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

But well says a certain author, No man is wise at all hours; it is therefore no wonder that a boy is not so.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Thorsten, advised by Ingeborg, now went in search of Belé, whom he found and replaced upon his hereditary throne, having sworn eternal friendship with him.
— from Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber

Almost in the center of it, above the Prechístenka Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides by stars but distinguished from them all by its nearness to the earth, its white light, and its long uplifted tail, shone the enormous and brilliant comet of 1812—the comet which was said to portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

And even Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, said to Aubrey: “Bacon is no great philosopher; he writes philosophy like a Lord Chancellor.”
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon

Would this afternoon be inconvenient?” “Not at all,” said Carrie.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser

After several séances, and while the subject was in a deep trance, the following occurred: "The astral body is now complete.
— from The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal by Hereward Carrington

Some of the stories which are told of him, and on which this view is based, are undoubtedly true, but the great majority of them are woven out of thin air by imaginative newspaper writers.
— from The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 127, October to March, 1909 by Various

They can be made by machinery cheaper, but so many times a bolt is needed on short notice that the farm shop should have the necessary tools and materials to supply the need quickly.
— from Farm Mechanics: Machinery and Its Use to Save Hand Labor on the Farm. by Herbert A. Shearer

One day, when the Bushmen had again trooped off on their fruitless search, I called Inyati; and told him to make certain preparations, as, should they again bring in nothing, I would strike camp and return to Walfisch Bay.
— from A Rip Van Winkle Of The Kalahari And Other Tales of South-West Africa by Frederick Carruthers Cornell

Quitting the place, therefore, and taking with him his women and effects, he directed his course by rapid marches towards Paterna, his principal residence, which had the advantage, by its neighbourhood to the Sierra Nevada, of affording him, if necessary, the means of escaping into its wild and mysterious recesses, where none but a native would care to follow him.
— from History of the Reign of Philip the Second King of Spain, Vol. 3 And Biographical & Critical Miscellanies by William Hickling Prescott

To regard a thing as beautiful is necessarily to regard it falsely (that is why incidentally love marriages are from the social point of view the most unreasonable form of matrimony).
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

That first; and then this: Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows And when we meet at any time again, Be it not seen in either of our brows That we one jot of former love retain— and consider them for what they are: unapproachably beautiful, passionate, serious, on the edge of cynicism, but never over it.
— from In a Green Shade A Country Commentary by Maurice Hewlett

From these premises I proceed to argue the question whether I ought or ought not to try and escape without the consent of the Athenians: and if I am clearly right in escaping, then I will make the attempt; but if not, I will abstain.
— from Crito by Plato

"You shall be obeyed," was the answer; "but I never ask for more than a sum for present expenses.
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 340, Supplementary Number (1828) by Various

I wish she would take advice; but I never knew her do that, except as a civil way of communicating her intentions.
— from The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge