Our need of it shows exactly how far we are still children.
— 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.

[“If wisdom be conferred with this reservation, that I must keep it to myself, and not communicate it to others, I would none of it.” —Seneca, Ep., 6.]
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Nicholas looked upon the sleepers; at first, with the air of one who gazes upon a scene which, though familiar to him, has lost none of its sorrowful effect in consequence; and, afterwards, with a more intense and searching scrutiny, as a man would who missed something his eye was accustomed to meet, and had expected to rest upon.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

De Candolle has remarked that winged seeds are never found in fruits which do not open; I should explain this rule by the impossibility of seeds gradually becoming winged through natural selection, unless the capsules were open; for in this case alone could the seeds, which were a little better adapted to be wafted by the wind, gain an advantage over others less well fitted for wide dispersal.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

with Rupert's name on it.' “Sure enough, there it was.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers by Bret Harte

De Candolle has remarked that winged seeds are never found in fruits which do not open: I should explain the rule by the fact that seeds could not gradually become winged through natural selection, except in fruits which opened; so that the individual plants producing seeds which were a little better fitted to be wafted further, might get an advantage over those producing seed less fitted for dispersal; and this process could not possibly go on in fruit which did not open.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

The third and last duty of the sovereign or commonwealth, is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature, that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual, or small number of individuals; and which it, therefore, cannot be expected that any individual, or small number of individuals, should erect or maintain.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

He had not covered a great distance, however, before his gravity was replaced by his former smiling look of the landed gentleman amused by the innocent pastimes of the peasants, though there was no one in sight except a woman sweeping some snow from the front steps of a cottage, and she, not perceiving him, retired in-doors without knowing her loss.
— from The Conquest of Canaan by Booth Tarkington

He has ordered that this inn shall be burnt down, and that no other inn shall ever be built on this spot again.
— from A Hungarian Nabob by Mór Jókai

My sleep was troubled often enough in those days which immediately followed our almost miraculous escape from the den of Fu-Manchu; and now, as I crouched there, nerves aquiver—listening—listening—I could not be sure if this dank panic which possessed me had its origin in nightmare or in something else.
— from The Devil Doctor by Sax Rohmer

5. They shall say, To Jehovah I (belong); and this shall call on the name of Jacob; and this shall inscribe with his hand, To Jehovah, and with the name of Israel shall entitle.
— from The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32) The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume I by Alfred Tucker

There was no one in sight; evening was coming on, and any men who might have been working in the garden had left.
— from By Conduct and Courage: A Story of the Days of Nelson by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

[Pg 227] CHAPTER XIV THE SOCIALISTIC ATTACK ON INTEREST AND THE NATURE OF ITS SEVERAL ERRORS
— from A Critical Examination of Socialism by W. H. (William Hurrell) Mallock

[1188] Three years before this he complains that no one is strong enough in belief in the devil; the “struggle between the devils and the angels” affrights him; for it is to be apprehended that “the angels whilst fighting for us often get the worst for a time.”
— from Luther, vol. 5 of 6 by Hartmann Grisar

It most probably rises within the first range of the Rocky mountains, and its general course is from east to west, and as far as we are able to trace it through wide bottoms, well supplied with both the long and broad-leafed cottonwood: The hills on its banks, are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height, and possess bluffs of earth, like the lower part of the Missouri: the bed is formed of small gravel and mud; the water turbid, and of a whitish tint; the banks low, but never overflowed; in short, except in depth and velocity, it is a perfect miniature of the Missouri.
— from History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. II To the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years 1804-5-6. by William Clark

Every effort has been made in it to decrease the “head resistance” by careful streamlining, reduction of the number of interplane struts, etc.
— from The Romance of Aircraft by Laurence Yard Smith

"You've been into it, my lady?—What—what—?" "It is a chapel—the old castle-chapel—mentioned, I know, somewhere in the history of the place, though no one, I suppose, ever dreamed the missing room could be that!—And in the chapel," continued Arctura, hardly able to bring out the words, for a kind of cramping of the muscles of speech, "there was a bed!
— from Donal Grant by George MacDonald