As to Planchet, he thought of little or nothing, but was happy as a hunting-hound in his old master’s company.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

Around the dinner table in his home some topic of local or national interest, or some debated question, was constantly being discussed.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

When a number of political societies are erected, and maintain a great intercourse together, a new set of rules are immediately discovered to be USEFUL in that particular situation; and accordingly take place under the title of Laws of Nations.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

They are trying with the utmost conscientiousness to find a reconciling conception which shall subject the old laws of nature to the smallest possible strain.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

I am tired of "Lives of Nelson," being that I never read any.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen Selected from the compilation of her great nephew, Edward, Lord Bradbourne by Jane Austen

[“No enmities are bitter, save that of love.” (Or:) “No hate is implacable except the hatred of love” —Propertius, ii. 8, 3.]
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

p. 36, note 2 . 57 Lit. “necessity”; more restrictive , however, than our “law of Nature.” cf.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen

'Why have they taken it away?' 'It has been taken down, child, because Mr. Brownlow said, that as it seemed to worry you, perhaps it might prevent your getting well, you know,' rejoined the old lady. 'Oh, no, indeed.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

This over, they both went out lovingly together, the old lady having first made him a present, as near as I could observe, of three or four pieces; he being not only her particular favourite on account of his performances, but a retainer to the house; from whose sight she had taken great care hitherto to secret me, lest he might not have had patience to wait for my lord's arrival, but have insisted on being his taster, which the old lady was under too much subjection to him to dare dispute with him; for every girl of the house fell to him in course, and the old lady only now and then got her turn, in consideration of the maintenance he had, and which he could scarce be accused of not earning from her.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

She said to herself, with homely philosophy, that this could not last very long; not with any tragical meaning, but with a recognition of the ordinary laws of nature which young ladies under the pressure of a first disappointment are not apt to recur to.
— from The Doctor's Family by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Supply-and-demand is not the one Law of Nature; Cash-payment is not the sole nexus of man with man,—how far from it!
— from Past and Present by Thomas Carlyle

The farmer, however, for the first time in his life, would have his own way, and too apt to mind only what is falsely called the main chance , instead of being careful to look out for a sober, prudent, and religious master for his son, he left all that to accident, as if it had been a thing of little or no consequence.
— from The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, and Other Tales by Hannah More

She, whose stoicism permitted her the one luxury of never coming down to breakfast, had just made it for herself over a little spirit-lamp.
— from The Works of John Galsworthy An Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Galsworthy by John Galsworthy

To save the trouble of pitching our tent, when we had secured our stores from wandering dogs, we camped in the solitary half-open barn near the bank, with the 321 permission of the owner, lying on new-mown hay four feet deep.
— from The Maine Woods The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 03 (of 20) by Henry David Thoreau

There were also two old ladies, own nieces of Benjamin Franklin, who for many years continually took tea with page 5 p. 5 us.
— from Memoirs by Charles Godfrey Leland

One thing was certain we could not hide altogether, and the notion of being in different places, and not knowing whether one set might not be discovered and the others looking on, not daring to help for fear of discovering more, quite upset me.
— from Yr Ynys Unyg The Lonely Island by Julia de Winton

Such attractions will allure the ordinary lover of Nature—the mere seeker after the picturesque—but to the true naturalist there are many others.
— from The Sea Shore by William S. Furneaux

Open circuit voltage readings are therefore of little or no value, except when a cell is "dead," as a dead cell will give an open circuit voltage very much less than 2, and it may even give no voltage at all.
— from The Automobile Storage Battery: Its Care And Repair by Otto A. Witte