Thus all consent to that maxim of Crassus, that a prince cannot have treasure enough, since he must maintain his armies out of it; that a king, even though he would, can do nothing unjustly; that all property is in him, not excepting the very persons of his subjects; and that no man has any other property but that which the king, out of his goodness, thinks fit to leave him.
— from Utopia by More, Thomas, Saint

These men, hearing that he was about to offer sacrifice, came into the temple with daggers under their cloaks, and mingling with the crowd round the altar, kept edging towards him.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

According to his account of the matter, no other people possessed a tithe of the knowledge, or a hundredth part of the honesty and virtue of the very community he was addressing; and after labouring for ten minutes to convince his hearers that they already knew every thing, he wasted several more in trying to persuade them to undertake further acquisitions of the same nature.
— from Home as Found Sequel to "Homeward Bound" by James Fenimore Cooper

The Australian Kamilaroi eat the heart and liver of a valiant warrior in order to acquire his courage.
— from The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry Into the Origins of Religions by Grant Allen

If it were inductive in spirit, the child would be allowed to acquire knowledge entirely through his own initiative .
— from A Class Room Logic Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching by George Hastings McNair

The king threatens to kill the ghost, and prepares to execute his threat, when the apparition kindly explains to him, "I am a ghost and am already dead."
— from A Book of the Play Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character by Dutton Cook

their lord Indulgent, till, all kind expedients tried, He drew the sword on them and reigned in peace.
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning Cambridge Edition by Robert Browning

they are kind enough; they have dressed the little ones and I was ashamed to ask them, for it crosses me to ask for things."
— from Germinal by Émile Zola