The Man aimed a blow at his little enemy, but acks palm came on his head instead; again the Fly tormented him, but this time the Man was wiser and said: "You will only injure yourself if you take notice of despicable enemies."
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop

When the people conceive that laws, and tribunals, and even popular assemblies, are perverted from the ends of their institution, they find in those names of degenerated establishments only new motives to discontent.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

We may remark, (1), the description of the two nations in one, which become more and more divided in the Greek Republics, as in feudal times, and perhaps also in our own; (2), the notion of democracy expressed in a sort of Pythagorean formula as equality among unequals; (3), the free and easy ways of men and animals, which are characteristic of liberty, as foreign mercenaries and universal mistrust are of the tyrant; (4), the proposal that mere debts should not be recoverable by law is a speculation which has often been entertained by reformers of the law in modern times, and is in harmony with the tendencies of modern legislation.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

And in any case, however great may be the number of different explanations, no one has adopted or suggested the theory of a Fourth Dimension.
— from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated) by Edwin Abbott Abbott

She spoke with difficulty, and I perceived that she regretted the necessity of death, even more than she cared to confess.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

It seemed to her that not only did everybody know that her fate would be decided that day, but that they also knew what she thought about it.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Elliston was the nephew of Dr. Elliston, Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, who sent him to St. Paul's School—not, however, that founded by Colet—but to St. Paul's School, Covent Garden.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

The new government has been so handicapped by the difficulties of securing food and other supplies, by the sabotage of many of the intelligent classes, and by the necessity of directing every energy toward carrying on hostilities against the bourgeoisie and the Allies, that there has been little opportunity to remodel the institutions inherited from the previous régime, therefore neither the strength nor the weakness of these institutions is to any great extent due to the present régime.
— from The Bullitt Mission to Russia Testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, of William C. Bullitt by William C. (William Christian) Bullitt

THE CRITERIONS OF TRUTH MAN AND NATURE THE MICROCOSM AND THE MACROCOSM THE UNIVERSAL CYCLES EDUCATION THE HOLY SPIRIT SCIENCE SPIRITUAL SPRINGTIME ETERNAL UNITY THE DARKENED LIGHTS THE NEED OF DIVINE EDUCATION RELIGION:
— from Foundations of World Unity by `Abdu'l-Bahá

The great majority of the prisoners in France being Catholics, the number of Sisters of Charity is naturally much larger than the number of deaconesses employed.
— from Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America by Jane M. (Jane Marie) Bancroft

And all this was told to the stunned Maltravers; the garrulity of the gardener precluded the necessity of his own inquiries, and the name of Darvil explained to him all that was dark to others.
— from Ernest Maltravers — Volume 01 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

Here among the quiet graves the thoughtful stranger is accustomed to moralize tritely on how thoughtless of death and eternity is "the hurrying throng" just outside the iron fence, who, by the way, have to pass that church every day, in many cases three or four times, and so can't very well keep on being impressed by the nearness of death, etc., about which, perhaps, it is just as well not to worry during the hours God meant for work.
— from New York Sketches by Jesse Lynch Williams

For many months before leaving prison, we had been familiar with the name of Dan Ellis —a famous Union guide, who, since the beginning of the war, had done nothing but conduct loyal men to our lines.
— from The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape by Albert D. (Albert Deane) Richardson

The following words are quotable in this connection: It is quite certain that the degree of progress of a people has a certain relation to the number of disturbances encountered, and the most progressive have had a more vicissitudinous life.
— from Catastrophe and Social Change Based Upon a Sociological Study of the Halifax Disaster by Samuel Henry Prince