A Beethoven string-quartet is truly, as some one has said, a scraping of horses' tails on cats' bowels, and may be exhaustively described in such terms; but the application of this description in no way precludes the simultaneous applicability of an entirely different description.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

She was not the beauty of Yerbury, by any means, but everybody declared she had improved wonderfully, and that she was the smartest girl in town.
— from Hope Mills; Or, Between Friend and Sweetheart by Amanda M. Douglas

Mr. Bancroft, as might be expected, depreciates the services of Sir William Johnson in this important and successful battle.
— from The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2. From 1620-1816 by Egerton Ryerson

When we behold a male bird elaborately displaying his graceful plumes or splendid colours before the female, whilst other birds, not thus decorated, make no such display, it is impossible to doubt that she admires the beauty of her male partner.
— from The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles Darwin

In the middle of the floor lay an immense feather bed, and my bewildered eyes discovered, at one end of it, a crimson face, the face, not of old McRory, but that of a young gentleman of my acquaintance, one Mr. Tomsy Flood of Curranhilty.
— from Further Experiences of an Irish R.M. by E. Oe. (Edith Oenone) Somerville

To which is added "My Brother and Myself," by Ernest Daudet 1 vol.
— from The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Alphonse Daudet

They have little beam, and must be exceedingly dangerous on the lake in choppy weather—indeed, accidents often occur; but every one here is so happily careless, and trustful in kismet , that these ricketty coffins have not been superseded by any more seaworthy craft.
— from Albania: A Narrative of Recent Travel by E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight

I was interested in his first effort on the floor, which was brief, and marked by evident diffidence.
— from Political Recollections 1840 to 1872 by George Washington Julian