From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the... other.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The goitre of egotism is so frequent among notable persons, that we must infer some strong necessity in nature which it subserves;... such as we see in the sexual attraction.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is long ere we discover how rich we are. Our history, we are sure, is quite tame: we have nothing to write, nothing to infer. B...ut our wiser years still run back to the despised recollections of childhood, and always we are fishing up some wonderful article out of that pond; until, by and by, we begin to suspect that the biography of the one foolish person we know is, in reality, nothing less than the miniature paraphrase of the hundred volumes of the Universal History.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We infer the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language, which is a sort of monument, to which each forcible individu...al in a course of many hundred years has contributed a stone.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
What a noble privilege is it of human reason to attain the knowledge of the supreme Being; and, from the visible works of nature, ...be enabled to infer so sublime a principle as its supreme Creator? But turn the reverse of the medal. Survey most nations and most ages. Examine the religious principles, which have, in fact, prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded, that they are any thing but sick men's dreams: Or perhaps will regard them more as the playsome whimsies of monkies in human shape, than the serious, positive, dogmatical asseverations of a being, who dignifies himself with the name of rational.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To punish a man because he has committed a crime, or because he is believed, though unjustly, to have committed a crime, is not pe...rsecution. To punish a man, because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Certainly (said Hippothadee) some of our doctors say that the first woman in the world, whom the Hebrews name Eve, would hardly ha...ve been tempted to eat the fruit of knowledge if doing so had not been forbidden her. Be that as it may, consider how the crafty Temptor reminded her with his first words of this prohibition, as if meaning to infer: "it is forbidden to you, therefore you must eat: otherwise you would not be a woman."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The general nature of the speech act fallacy can be stated as follows, using "good" as our example. Calling something good is char...acteristically praising or commending or recommending it, etc. But it is a fallacy to infer from this that the meaning of "good" is explained by saying it is used to perform the act of commendation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is from her father that she begins to infer messages that will linger a lifetime--"I am, or am not, considered by men to be pre...tty, desirable, valuable, dependent, weak, strong, dim-witted, brilliant"; "Men are, or are not, trustworthy, loving, predatory, dependable, available, dangerous."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Though there are wreck-masters appointed to look after valuable property which must be advertised, yet undoubtedly a great deal of... value is secretly carried off. But are we not all wreckers contriving that some treasure may be washed up on our beach, that we may secure it, and do we not infer the habits of these Nauset and Barnegat wreckers, from the common modes of getting a living?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »