I find that our greatest vices derive their first propensity from our most tender infancy, and that our principal education depends upon the nurse.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

eit' epi men tês tracheias artêrias ouk aporeis enallax pote men eisô paragousês eis ton pneumona to pneuma, pote d' exô, kai tôn kata tas rhinas porôn kai holou tou stomatos hôsautôs oud' einai soi dokei thaumaston oude paradoxon, ei, di' hou mikrô prosthen eisô parekomizeto to pneuma, dia toutou nyn ekpempetai, peri de tôn ex hêpatos eis entera te kai gastera kathêkousôn phlebôn aporeis kai soi thaumaston einai phainetai, dia tôn autôn anadidosthai th' hama tên trophên eis hêpar helkesthai t' ex ekeinou palin eis gastera? diorisai dê to hama touto poterôs legeis.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen

The smooth Spleenwort, from a black, thready and bushy root, sends forth [175] many long single leaves, cut in on both sides into round dents almost to the middle, which is not so hard as that of polypody, each division being not always set opposite unto the other, cut between each, smooth, and of a light green on the upper side, and a dark yellowish roughness on the back, folding or rolling itself inward at the first springing up.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

It was the only plain English document, undarkened by ciphers and mysteries, and responsibly signed and authenticated, which squarely implicated the Reformers in the raid, and it was not to Mr. Rhodes’s interest that it should be eaten.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

Belts and armlets plaited of a dark brown fern vine, small red shell disks and turtle shell rings as ear ornaments are the only permanent, every-day decorations worn.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

What business had he to be the only person, except Dr. Donaldson and Dixon, admitted to the awful secret, which she held shut up in the most dark and sacred recess of her heart—not daring to look at it, unless she invoked heavenly strength to bear the sight—that, some day soon, she should cry aloud for her mother, and no answer would come out of the blank, dumb darkness?
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Among this testimony are found statements (some of them under jurat), that the express companies carry periodicals in bulk of [256] five to ten pounds and upward from New York to Chicago, and to other points equally distant from office of publication, at a rate materially below the cent-a-pound rate charged by the government for postal carriage.
— from Postal Riders and Raiders by W. H. Gantz

"Come now, Mr. Nixon," resumed the subdean, in a tone of pleasant expostulation, "does not this very circumstance, of the striking change in manners that you have alluded to, convince you that the hostile course is unwise?
— from Wise Saws and Modern Instances, Volume 2 (of 2) by Thomas Cooper

For when young Richard was at Pomfret slain, In him the title of prince Edward died, That was the eldest of king Edward's sons: William, of Hatfield, and their second brother, Death in his nonage had before bereft: So that my wife, derived from Lionel, Third son unto king Edward, ought proceed, And take possession of the Diadem Before this Harry, or his father king, Who fetched their title but from Lancaster, Forth of that royal line.
— from Sir John Oldcastle by Shakespeare (spurious and doubtful works)

He was pleased that Elsa, who read the most abstract treatises on political economy, did not understand an iota of business.
— from Felix Lanzberg's Expiation by Ossip Schubin

“No; now is that a true story?” cried little Annie, who was the only person except David grave enough to speak; while Sam, exploding in the window, called out, “Why, don’t you know that’s why pigs have rings in their noses?”
— from The Stokesley Secret by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

The States of Holland not confounding—as so often has been the case—the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the doom of Jeroboam, forbid the use of starch.
— from History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-1609) by John Lothrop Motley

As a matter of fact, we have seen, when studying the illusions of memory, that our personal experience does become confused with that of others.
— from Illusions: A Psychological Study by James Sully

It is remarkable that four, if not more, of the Penwith churches afford traces of presumably earlier dedications.
— from The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and Studies by Thomas Taylor