We ourselves esteem not of that obedience, or love, or gift, which is of force: God therefore let him free, set before him a provoking object, ever almost in his eyes; herein consisted his merit, herein the right of his reward, the praise of his abstinence.

-Milton,John
  Areopagitica: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing.

It takes two to make a woman into a sex object.

-Morgan, Elaine
  The Descent of  Woman, ch.11.

The object of war is not to die for your country. The object of war istomake damnsuretheother sonofabitch dies for his.

-Patton, George Smith known as Old Blood and Guts
Attributed.

Of all affliction taught a lover yet, 'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, And love th'offender, yet detest th'offence? How the dear object from the crime remove, Or how distinguish penitence from love? 659

-Pope, Alexander
  'Eloisa to Abelard'.

Observation is always selective. It needs a chosen object, a definite task, an interest, a point of view, a problem.

-Popper, Sir Karl Raimund
  Conjectures and Refutations (published1963), ch.1.

The mythical America†öthat marvellous, heroic, sentimental landöwas an object of faith. It challenged you to make the believer's leap over the rude facts at your feet.

-Raban,Jonathan
  Hunting Mister Heartbreak, ch.2.

At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to actörather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze or 'express'an object, actual or imagined.What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.

-Rosenberg, Harold
  'TheAmerican Action Painters', in Art News, no.51, Dec.

Communications today puts a special emphasis on what happens next, for an able, sophisticated and competitive press knows that what happens today is no longer newsöit is what isgoing to happen tomorrow that is the object of interest and concern.

-Rusk, (David) Dean
  At Time's 40th anniversary dinner,17 May.

Au contraire de l'Europe¤  en classique, le Ne¤  gro-Africain ne se distingue pas de l'objet, il ne le tient pas a'   distance, il ne le regarde pas, il ne l'analyse pas† Il le touche, il le palpe, il le sent. Unliketheclassical European, the Black-Africandoesnot distinguish himself from an object. He does not hold it at a distance, he does not look at it, he does not examine it† He touches it, he fingers it, he feels it.

-Senghor, Le¤  opold Se¤  dar
  Au Congr e' s de l'Union nationale de laJeunesse du Mali, Dakar.

Art thou pale for weariness Of climbing heaven, and gazing on the earth, Wandering companionless Among the stars that have a different birth,ö And ever-changing, like a joyless eye That finds no object worth its constancy?

-Shelley, Percy Bysshe
'To the Moon' (published1824).

The word, it is to be observed, has two different meanings, and sometimes the utility of some particular object, and sometimes the power of purchasing other goods which the possession of that object conveys. This one may be called 'value in use'; the other,'value in exchange'. The things which have the greatest value in usehave frequently little or novalue in exchange; and on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce any thing; scarce any thing can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.

-Smith, Adam
VALUE1776  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of theWealth of Nations, bk.1, ch.4.

My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which is condemned; Puritan decadence regards the name itself as indecent, and pretends that the object behind that name does not exist until it is named.

-Spender, Sir Stephen Harold
World withinWorld, p.314^15.

The saddest object in civilization, and to my mind the greatest confession of its failure, is the man who can work, who wants work, and who is not allowed to work.

-Stevenson, Robert Louis
Quoted by Lloyd Osbourne in'The Death of Stevenson', preface toTusitala edition of Weir of Hermiston (published1924).

   A balance, an ennobling interchange Of action from without and from within; The excellence, pure function, and best power Both of the object seen, and eye that sees.

-Wordsworth,William
^1805  The Prelude, bk.13, l.375^8 (published1850).