All men therefore that would avoid, both the punishments that are to be in this world inflicted, for disobedience to their earthly Soveraign, and those that shall be inflicted in the world to come for disobedience to God, have need be taught to distinguish well between what is, and what is not Necessary to Eternall Salvation.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

However, on all proper seasons, such as the approach of an election, I throw a suitable dash or two into my sermons; which I have the pleasure to hear is not disagreeable to Sir Thomas and the other honest gentlemen my neighbours, who have all promised me these five years to procure an ordination for a son of mine, who is now near thirty, hath an infinite stock of learning, and is, I thank Heaven, of an unexceptionable life; though, as he was never at an university, the bishop refuses to ordain him.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

H2 anchor Is None To Them That Distinguish Between What Is, And What Is Not Necessary To Salvation
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Nor would I engage in a display of this kind, were it not necessary to shew their prejudices and mistakes, in order to remedy their failures.
— from A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume I. by Jacob Bryant

‘This fellow—I grieve to say my brother’s son: a reprobate and profligate, stained with every mean and selfish crime—this fellow, coming here today to disturb a solemn ceremony, and knowing that the consequence of his presenting himself in another man’s house at such a time, and persisting in remaining there, must be his being kicked into the streets and dragged through them like the vagabond he is—this fellow, mark you, brings with him his sister as a protection, thinking we would not expose a silly girl to the degradation and indignity which is no novelty to him; and, even after I have warned her of what must ensue, he still keeps her by him, as you see, and clings to her apron-strings like a cowardly boy to his mother’s.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

For when it becomes necessary to choose between these three predicaments, either to do wrong without retribution, or to do wrong with retribution, or to do no wrong at all, it is best to do wrong with impunity; next, neither to do wrong nor to suffer for it; but nothing is more wretched than to struggle incessantly between the wrong we inflict and that we receive.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

And the priests told me, when I inquired, that the things concerning Helen happened thus:—Alexander having carried off Helen was sailing away from Sparta to his own land, and when he had come to the Egean Sea contrary winds drove him from his course to the Sea of Egypt; and after that, since the blasts did not cease to blow, he came to Egypt itself, and in Egypt to that which is now named the Canobic mouth of the Nile and to Taricheiai.
— from An Account of Egypt by Herodotus

We have been at court, and ‘change, and every where; and every where we find food for spleen, and subject for ridicule—My new servant, Humphry Clinker, turns out a great original: and Tabby is a changed creature—She has parted with Chowder; and does nothing but smile, like Malvolio in the play—I’ll be hanged if she is not acting a part which is not natural to her disposition, for some purpose which I have not yet discovered.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

I loved you; but was it not natural that I should suppose your inclination for me only a passing caprice?
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

When we find a motte perched on a river which is not navigable, the purpose probably was to defend some ford, or to exact tolls from passengers.
— from The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles. by Ella S. Armitage

She forbore, however, to question Herbert, who maintained a dignified silence upon the subject; and the same species of silence would also become the historian upon this occasion, were it not necessary that the character of an intriguing lady’s maid should, for the sake both of parents and children, be fully delineated.
— from Tales and Novels — Volume 01 Moral Tales by Maria Edgeworth

“Was it not near the mill that the other witch was observed to be plucking flowers last summer?
— from With Force and Arms: A Tale of Love and Salem Witchcraft by Howard Roger Garis

The process of the war I need not tell, How Theseus conquered, and how Creon fell; Or after, how by storm the walls were won, Or how the victor sacked and burned the town; How to the ladies he restored again The bodies of their lords in battle slain; And with what ancient rites they were interred; All these to fitter time shall be deferred: I spare the widows' tears, their woful cries, And howling at their husbands' obsequies; How Theseus at these funerals did assist, And with what gifts the mourning dames dismissed.
— from Dryden's Palamon and Arcite by Geoffrey Chaucer

We have used the force of arms to conquer the forces of barbarism and semi-civilisation, but the most hostile of our critics may be safely challenged to point to any country or [Pg 51] province upon which we have imposed the Pax Britannica, which is not now the better for it.
— from The World Peril of 1910 by George Chetwynd Griffith

I sought the gold of the mountains far and near—thou knowest this well—heaping treasures on treasures, and all the while I never noticed that I was growing old, and was still alone in life.
— from Fairy Circles Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, and Hobgoblins by Villamaria

And was it not natural that a young girl should like to be petted, and flattered, and made much of? Why should he complain when she wrote to say how she enjoyed this and was charmed by that?
— from Macleod of Dare by William Black

In some trades it was still the practice for the workmen, if not numerous, to sleep in the workshop.
— from A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France by William Duthie

After such preparatory work, I need not tell you how blessed the solemn ordinance of the Lord's supper proved to me; I hope it was so to many.
— from The Life of Col. James Gardiner Who Was Slain at the Battle of Prestonpans, September 21, 1745 by Philip Doddridge

For her alone he tended the flowers and the fruits; for her alone had God created the earth; was she not its queen, and was it not natural that Fritz Wendel lay at her feet, and called her the star of his existence?
— from Frederick the Great and His Court by L. (Luise) Mühlbach