response 126 of 278:

May 6 00:08 UTC 1999

Okay, here's my quote du jour:

     Having put his religious house in order, Mohammed now began to
enjoy his power as the undisputed ruler of a large number of Arab
tribes. But success has been the undoing of a large number of men who
were great in the days of adversity. He tried to gain the good will of
the rich people by a number of regulations which could appeal to those
of wealth. He allowed the Faithful to have four wives. As one wife was a
costly investment in those olden days when brides were bought directly
from the parents, four wives became a positive luxury except to those
who possessed camels and dromedaries and date orchards beyond the dreams
of avarice. A religion which at first had been meant for the hardy
hunters of the high-skied desert was gradually transformed to suit the
needs of the smug merchants who lived in the bazaars of the cities. It
was a regrettable change from the original program and it did very
little good to the cause of Hohammedanism. As for the prophet himself,
he went on preaching the truth of Allah and proclaiming new rules of
conduct until he died, quite suddenly, of a fever on June the seventh of
the year 632.

response 128 of 278:

May 6 00:45 UTC 1999

  hmmm..  the sentiment sounds modern, but "Mohammedanism" suggests that
  this passage was written a while back (the term is not much in fashion
  these days and is probably pretty offensive to Moslems..)

response 130 of 278:

May 6 18:51 UTC 1999

Bertrand Russell?  

response 132 of 278:

May 7 01:48 UTC 1999

There goes my Salman Rushdie guess... C. S. Lewis?

response 134 of 278:

May 7 11:34 UTC 1999

Neither Lewis nor Lawrence.  I'll post another quote soon.

response 136 of 278:

May 7 14:40 UTC 1999

Go to any search engine and type in "Charles Dickens".  You will get 
more information than all of us here could provide you if we each 
dedicated ourselves to nothing else for a week.

response 138 of 278:

May 8 11:17 UTC 1999

Not H. G. Wells. Good guess though. Here's another quote:

     Outwardly, the Roman state during the first century of our era was
a magnificent political structure, so large that Alexander's empire
became one of its minor provinces. Underneath this glory there lived
millions upon millions of poor and tired human beings, toiling like ants
who have built a nest underneath a heavy stone. They worked for the
benefit of someone else. They shared their food with the animals of the
fields. They lived in stables. They died without hope.
     It was the seven hundred and fifty-third year since the founding of
Rome. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus was living in the palace
of the Palatine Hill, busily engaged upon the task of ruling his empire.
     In a little village of distant Syria, Mary, the wife of Joseph the
Carpenter, was tending her little boy, born in a stable of Bethlehem.
     This is a strange world.
     Before long, the palace and the stable were to meet in open combat.
     And the stable was to emerge victorious.

response 140 of 278:

May 8 20:01 UTC 1999

I agree.  

response 142 of 278:

May 9 12:39 UTC 1999

Not Gibbon. Our author is 20th century, remember.

Here's another quote, from the same work as the previous two:

     The majority of the Indian people, therefore, lived in misery.
Since this planet offered them very little joy, salvation from
suffering must be found elsewhere. They tried to derive a little
consolation from meditataion upon the bliss of their future
existence.
     Brahma, the all-creator who was regarded by the Indian people
as the supreme ruler of life and death, was worshipped as the
highest level of perfection. To become like Brahma, to lose all
desires for riches and power, was recognised as the most exalted
purpose of existence. Holy thoughts were regarded as more important
than holy deeds, and many people went into the desert and lived
upon the leaves of trees and starved their bodies that they might
feed their souls with the glorious contemplation of the splendours
of Brahma, the Wise, the Good and the Merciful.
     Siddhartha, who had often observed these solitary wanderers
who were seeking the truth far away from the turmoil of the cities
and the villages, decided to follow their example. He cut his hair.
He took his pearls and his rubies and sent them back to his family
with a message of farewell, which the ever faithful Channa carried.
Without a single follower, the young prince then moved into the
wilderness.

response 144 of 278:

May 9 17:28 UTC 1999

Not any Huxley.

Hint: Pay close attention to the style.

response 146 of 278:

May 10 01:14 UTC 1999

Not Toynbee.

response 148 of 278:

May 10 21:05 UTC 1999

Mitchner?