So that the greatest advantage I derived from the study consisted in this, that, observing many things which, however extravagant and ridiculous to our apprehension, are yet by common consent received and approved by other great nations, I learned to entertain too decided a belief in regard to nothing of the truth of which I had been persuaded merely by example and custom; and thus I gradually extricated myself from many errors powerful enough to darken our natural intelligence, and incapacitate us in great measure from listening to reason.
— from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences by René Descartes

After Harry had assured himself of the fact, he pitched into my poor bottom with redoubled vigour, which, though it greatly excited me at the moment, made my poor bum smart for days afterwards.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous

There will be no belief in a trinity, in a virgin mother of God, in intercessors of any kind whatever between human beings and the invisible God; each man and woman will be independent and alone in the presence of the Supreme.
— from Ancient Faiths And Modern A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities in Central and Western Asia, Europe, and Elsewhere, Before the Christian Era. Showing Their Relations to Religious Customs as They Now Exist. by Thomas Inman

and then I got even more fond of you.
— from Nobody's Boy Sans Famille by Hector Malot

A similar theory, for which there is geological evidence, may account for the survival of the Galapagos giant tortoises after those of the mainland had died off.
— from Zoölogy: The Science of Animal Life Popular Science Library, Volume XII (of 16), P. F. Collier & Son Company, 1922 by Ernest Ingersoll

We think it good enough—much more than good enough."
— from Gilbert Keith Chesterton by Maisie Ward

The one great strength of democracy is, that it opens all the highways of power and station to the better man, that it gives every man the chance of rising to his natural level; and its great weakness is in its tendency to urge this principle to a vicious excess, by pushing men forward into positions for which they are unfit, not so much because they deserve to rise, or because they have risen by great qualities, as because they began low.
— from The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V Political Essays by James Russell Lowell

It is easy to understand how a man like Rhodes, with the wealth and influence of De Beers and the Chartered Company at his command, might seek, by an alliance with the "great houses" of the Rand, to (p. 037) find in private effort an instrument for remedying the deficiencies of the Imperial Government even more appropriate than the local governmental action upon which he had previously relied.
— from Lord Milner's Work in South Africa From its Commencement in 1897 to the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902 by W. Basil (William Basil) Worsfold

The only other suggested rendering, "Thy throne is God," etc., may fairly be pronounced impossible.
— from The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2 Psalms XXXIX.-LXXXIX. by Alexander Maclaren

I state the Peruvian guano is the best for this operation, as it contains what Dr. Ure calls potential ammonia , or ammonia in a more permanent form; whereas the ammonia from the Ichaboe guano evaporates more easily, and this valuable ingredient is therefore lost in the atm
— from Guano: A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers by Solon Robinson

“I will not weary this intelligent gathering, each member of which doubtless knows all the books on mathematics off by heart, with a recital of the means by which Yung Chang proved to Ti Hung the accuracy of his tables and the value of his discovery of the multiplication table, which till then had been undreamt of,” continued the story-teller.
— from The Wallet of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah