Having provided myself with this Chair, I used to Study, Eat, Drink, and Sleep in it; insomuch that I may be said, for these three last Years, to have lived in a Pair of Scales.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

In general, then, it may be said that Space and Time are a priori conditions of created being.
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation Including Some Strictures Upon the Theories of Rev. Henry L. Mansel and Mr. Herbert Spencer by Jesse Henry Jones

Being thus at liberty, James speedily summoned around him such peers as he knew to be most inimical to the domination of Angus, and laid his complaint before them, says Pitscottie, 'with great lamentations: showing to them how he was holding in subjection, thir years bygone, by the Earl of Angus, and his kin and friends, who oppressed the whole country, and spoiled it, under the pretence of justice and his authority; and had slain many of his lieges, kinsmen, and friends, because they would have had it mended at their hands, and put him at liberty, as he ought to have been, at the counsel of his whole lords, and not have been subjected and corrected with no particular men, by the rest of his nobles: Therefore, said he, I desire, my lords, that I may be satisfied of the said earl, his kin, and friends; for I avow, that Scotland shall not hold us both, while [i.e. till] I be revenged on him and his.
— from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott

The soul of the infant is believed to be temporarily deposited in the coco-nut in order that it may be safe from the attacks of evil spirits; but when the child grows bigger and stronger, the soul will take up its permanent abode in its own body.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

Could it be shown to be scientifically plausible in itself, as well-educated Celts consider it to be—and much evidence to be derived from a study of states of consciousness, e. g. dreams, somnambulism, trance, crystal-gazing, changed personality, subconsciousness, and so forth, indicates that it might be shown to be so—it would effectively prove the theory.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. (Walter Yeeling) Evans-Wentz

—The idea, Mr Bloom said, is the house of keys.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

Again, Epic poetry must have as many kinds as Tragedy: it must be simple, or complex, or 'ethical,' or 'pathetic.'
— from The Poetics of Aristotle by Aristotle

'I thought,' returned the schoolmaster, stealing another look at her, and seeming to try in vain to sustain it; for the look dropped as it lighted on her eyes, 'that it might be so superfluous as to be almost impertinent, to enter upon a definition of it.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

The bed which was somewhat crazy and not very firm on its feet, unable to support the additional weight of the carrier, came to the ground, and at the mighty crash of this the innkeeper awoke and at once concluded that it must be some brawl of Maritornes', because after calling loudly to her he got no answer.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Some cried out, 'My God, what shall I do that I may be saved?'
— from American Lutheranism Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism and The Tennessee Synod by F. (Friedrich) Bente

A formulary was devised, and a royal decree enacted that it must be signed.
— from A Candid History of the Jesuits by Joseph McCabe

—In regard to the wages of teachers it may be said that there is fixed in the social mind also, a certain norm .
— from Rural Life and the Rural School by Joseph Kennedy

At the same time, it must be said that Delbrück was quite naturally led to adopt this suggestion.
— from The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History Third Edition by John Codman Ropes

But, at all events, whether your Committee should wish or should not wish this personal investigation to be undertaken, I would suggest, that it might be satisfactory to you and serviceable to the inquiry in which you are engaged, if you would procure a report from some eminent hydraulic engineer, practically conversant with the system of continuous supply, who might furnish you with conclusive testimony as to the admissibility of this system within the City, and
— from Reports Relating to the Sanitary Condition of the City of London by John Simon

The reader will do well to consider that it may be sometimes just as possible to carry a roof, and get rid of rain, without such an arrangement, as it is to tell a plain fact without an exordium or peroration; but he must very absolutely consider that the architectural peroration or cornice is strictly and sternly limited to the end of the wall’s speech,—that is, to the edge of the roof; and that it has nothing whatever to do with shafts nor the orders of them.
— from The Stones of Venice, Volume 1 (of 3) by John Ruskin

If I ask a woman, whose husband is present if that is Mr. B— she blushes, and stammers, and replies, "He is my child's father," in order to avoid speaking his name in his presence, which would offend him.
— from Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians by Elias Johnson

The grass is green, though, it may be, sad sinners tread it.
— from The Night Side of London by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie

He told me himself he had the utmost faith in your judgment and should follow your advice whatever it might cost him." "Did he really tell you that?" inquired Mr. Binney, somewhat surprised.
— from Peter Binney: A Novel by Archibald Marshall