that thine is just now the temper of mind which is always that of the Moors, who can never be brought to see the error of their creed by quotations from the Holy Scriptures, or by reasons which depend upon the examination of the understanding or are founded upon the articles of faith, but must have examples that are palpable, easy, intelligible, capable of proof, not admitting of doubt, with mathematical demonstrations that cannot be denied, like, ‘If equals be taken from equals, the remainders are equal:’ and if they do not understand this in words, and indeed they do not, it has to be shown to them with the hands, and put before their eyes, and even with all this no one succeeds in convincing them of the truth of our holy religion.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

In the attention which the ancient philosophers excited, in the empire which they acquired over the opinions and principles of their auditors, in the faculty which they possessed of giving a certain tone and character to the conduct and conversation of those auditors, they appear to have been much superior to any modern teachers.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rimo by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini .
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism by Arthur Schopenhauer

But such illusions were usually dissipated, on coming out of church, by hearing his voice in jocund colloquy with some of the Melthams or Greens, or, perhaps, the Murrays themselves; probably laughing at his own sermon, and hoping that he had given the rascally people something to think about; perchance, exulting in the thought that old Betty Holmes would now lay aside the sinful indulgence of her pipe, which had been her daily solace for upwards of thirty years: that George Higgins would be frightened out of his Sabbath evening walks, and Thomas Jackson would be sorely troubled in his conscience, and shaken in his sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection at the last day.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

It has the same determined didactic tone which pervades the book itself, the same narrowness of view, and inflation of expression, an inflation which is really due not to any personal egotism in the writer, but rather to that very gentleness and inexperience which must yet nerve itself under the stimulus of religion to its disagreeable and repulsive task.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

85 The copies of Papinian, or Ulpian, which the reformer had proscribed, were deemed unworthy of future notice: the Twelve Tables and praetorian edicts insensibly vanished, and the monuments of ancient Rome were neglected or destroyed by the envy and ignorance of the Greeks.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

But strange things are prepared even in the dead of night, and the unusual, which lurks least in the cafe, home of the prosaic and inevitable, was preparing to spoil for him the waning romance of Broadway.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

that an act, to be in the highest sense virtuous, must not be done solely for the sake of the attendant pleasure, even if that be the pleasure of the moral sense; so that if I do an act from the sole desire of obtaining the glow of moral self-approbation which I believe will attend its performance, the act will not be truly virtuous.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

As Hutcheson explains, we may cultivate benevolent affection for the sake of the pleasures attending it (just as the glutton cultivates appetite), but we cannot produce it at will, however strong may be our desire of these pleasures: and when it exists, even though it may owe its origin to a purely egoistic impulse, it is still essentially a desire to do good to others for their sake and not for our own.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

Go home, therefore, and put everything in charge of the most respectable woman servant that you have, until it shall please heaven to send you a wife of your own.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

But now let us turn to the teaching of the actual Political Economist, in his present fashionable shape.
— from The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated In Nine Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of Dublin by John Henry Newman

Pelatiah Webster, the ablest political economist in America at that time, a thinker far in advance of his age, was almost alone in insisting upon taxation.
— from The American Revolution by John Fiske

And," he said hesitatingly, "that just reminds me; if I may take the freedom of showing my gratitude in a small way, permit me to say to you as pastor, what I have already hinted to himself, that your most excellent curate will involve himself in a great deal of trouble and possible expense if he perseveres in that matter of the fishing-boat.
— from My New Curate by Patrick Augustine Sheehan

Then they built a high fence ’bout eight foot tall and put ’em in it.
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Arkansas Narratives, Part 3 by United States. Work Projects Administration

If greatly superior to a probable enemy, it will be unnecessary; if more nearly equal, then the aim can only be to be superior in the number of men immediately available, and fit according to the standard of fitness here generalized.
— from The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

The question at issue[1] between Fries and the idealistic school therefore becomes, Is the discovery of the a priori element itself a cognition a priori or a posteriori ?
— from History of Modern Philosophy From Nicolas of Cusa to the Present Time by Richard Falckenberg

They were indubitably sold, with the honoured rags and bones to Milton , who has certainly more than one suspicious coincidence of thought and phraseology, especially in his earlier poems.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, December 17, 1887 by Various

The muscular system is strongly developed; it consists of long tubular fibres, which run circularly, longitudinally and in the dorso-ventral direction; the muscular system is subject to a particular expansion in the clinging organs and at the commencement of the intestine.
— from The Animal Parasites of Man by Fred. V. (Frederick Vincent) Theobald

'The fearlessness of the genial author of "John Bull and his Island" is as well known and liked as his wit; and both of them are pleasantly exemplified in his latest and most broadly universal book.'—
— from Her Royal Highness Woman by Max O'Rell

They are pleasant enough in their way, but what brings me here is the strong desire as well as necessity for the repose of which you speak.
— from Wild Northern Scenes Or, Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod by S. H. (Samuel H.) Hammond