And why? Is it that he is too generous, too like a philanthropist in the former case? Or that he is too wicked in the latter? No such thing. It is an impeachment of his own judgment, against which he braces himself.
Is the merchant happier when, quitting the din and bustle of the city, his ships, his freights, and his speculations he hastens to the enjoyment of rural life, purchases a beautiful villa, and looking around him, says within himself "I am content." Is he so? no such thing! He must still busy himself with the news, the business, and the exchanges; or, let him look at home, every thing is wrong, every thing wants improving[…]
1940, Mortimer Jerome Adler, “This pre-war generation”, in Harpers:
At the time those were my sentiments too, but I soon discovered that I could not make common cause with my colleagues. After dinner I reported the conversation I had had with the professor of history, and again I said that I thought the political truth of democracy could be demonstrated. No such thing! Democracy could be saved by force of arms but it could not be proved by weight of reason.
1959, Paul Goodman, The Empire City:
Did Lothair imagine that the society of those people (such as it was) existed because of their demented notions and by means of their contradictory institutions? And that these were the essence of their society? No such thing!
1982, “Rushes”, in Time Magazine:
You thought the notion of New York as Fun City died with the Lindsay administration? No such thing. In A Little Sex, Manhattan is still where a coupla crazy kids can get their Wasp jollies[…]