A serpent, neighbour to a smith, (A neighbour bad to meddle with,) Went through his shop, in search of food, But nothing found, 'tis understood, To eat, except a file of steel, Of which he tried to make a meal.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

So bleibst du wohlbewahrt vor tausend Uebeln —Take everything easily; leave off dreaming and brooding; then wilt thou be safe-shielded from a thousand ills.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

342. A. The consistent type understands that even evil must not be hated, must not be resisted, and that it is not allowable to make war against one's self; that it does not suffice merely to accept the pain which such behaviour brings in its train; that one lives entirely in positive feelings; that one takes the side of one's opponents in word [Pg 277] and deed; that by means of a superfœtation of peaceful, kindly, conciliatory, helpful, and loving states, one impoverishes the soil of the other states, ... that one is in need of unremitting practice.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

She was now approaching fourteen, and the down on her charming little cunt was becoming more decided; her bubbies too, under the erotic excitement of my attouchements and gamahuching, had assumed a decided prominence.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous

In this formula, the invocation is partly an appeal for assistance, and partly a sort of exorcism, which is meant to undo the evil effects of breaking the taboo of eating these fish.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

Folco and Ughetto (and from them their ladies) had privy notice from the duke why Ninetta had been taken, the which was exceeding grievous to them and they used their every endeavour to save her from the fire, whereto they doubted not she would be condemned, as indeed she richly deserved; but all seemed vain, for that the duke abode firm in willing to do justice upon her.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

The natives have special expressions which denote the various manners of illicitly entering a canoe, and, in some of the canoe exorcisms, these expressions are used to undo the evil effects of the breaking of these taboos.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

The youths themselves, generally, would become desirous of making a voyage in quest of learning.—Crossing the ocean on such an errand would elevate their ideas, and stir them up to extraordinary exertions.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

He then used this emphatical expression of the misery which he felt: 'I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits.'
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

The persons, besides, who enjoy public offices, especially the more lucrative, are, in all countries, the objects of general envy; and a tax upon their emoluments, even though it should be somewhat higher than upon any other sort of revenue, is always a very popular tax.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

One Sabbath morning, now many years ago, I had occasion to urge this elementary evangelical duty on my people here, and I did it as plainly as I could.
— from Bunyan Characters (1st Series) by Alexander Whyte

But there can be no doubt, I think, that, under the existing economical con
— from France and the Republic A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 by William Henry Hurlbert

The first and primary aim ought to be the endeavor to prepare the body by gentle purgative medicines, so as to cleanse the stomach, bowels, and tissues from all extraneous matter, which might interfere with his ability to undergo the extra exertion it is his lot to take before he is in a fit state to struggle through any arduous task with a good chance of success.
— from Practical Training for Running, Walking, Rowing, Wrestling, Boxing, Jumping, and All Kinds of Athletic Feats Together with tables of proportional measurement for height and weight of men in and out of condition; etc. etc. by Ed. James

All biographers tell us that each epoch in a hero's life was ushered in by a new friend.
— from A Man's Value to Society: Studies in Self Culture and Character by Newell Dwight Hillis

The cross-cuttings were gradually widened and timbered until the entire excavation had been made down to the level of the wall-plates, as shown in Fig.
— from Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Cross-Town Tunnels. Paper No. 1158 by James H. Brace

We are not, however, to understand that every engine, in which steam is used of a pressure exceeding that of the atmosphere, is what is meant by an high-pressure engine ; for in the ordinary engines in common use, constructed on Watt's principle, the safety-valve is loaded with from 3 to 5 lbs.
— from The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated (Seventh Edition) With an Account of Its Invention and Progressive Improvement, and Its Application to Navigation and Railways; Including Also a Memoir of Watt by Dionysius Lardner

You should have seen the laughing eye, the change in the speaker's voice and manner, said the narrator, to understand the electric effect the story had upon the audience.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVII, August 1852, Vol. V by Various

On this knoll a redoubt had been commenced, but no more had been done than to level a space, eighty yards long and twenty feet broad, on its summit, and to throw up the excavated earth in front, thus forming a bank three or four feet high.
— from A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. 2, Jan.-Sep. 1809 From the Battle of Corunna to the End of the Talavera Campaign by Charles Oman

A hand was ready in France to take up the enterprise, Ernest Renan, the modern Voltaire, put forth his notorious "Life of Jesus," which might be called the great crime of the nineteenth century.
— from The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe by Francis A. (Francis Aloysius) Cunningham