There is quite as much truth on the side of Protagoras as of Socrates; but the truth of Protagoras is based on common sense and common maxims of morality, while that of Socrates is paradoxical or transcendental, and though full of meaning and insight, hardly intelligible to the rest of mankind.
— from Protagoras by Plato

She had made one last appeal to friends, but, against the chill wall of their respectability, the voice of the erring outcast fell unheeded; and then she had gone to see her child—had held it in her arms and kissed it, in a weary, dull sort of way, and without betraying any particular emotion of any kind, and had left it, after putting into its hand a penny box of chocolate she had bought it, and afterwards, with her last few shillings, had taken a ticket and come down to Goring.
— from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

"I'll get a little bottle of cologne; she likes it, and it won't cost much, so I'll have some left to buy my pencils," added Amy.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

( Recherches sur les Mystères , i. 56) says that in the Samothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table, because, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the blood of Cadmillus, slain by his brothers.
— from The Symbolism of Freemasonry Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols by Albert Gallatin Mackey

I told her they were tulips; but of course she didn't understand the word-play.
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

Many curious instances could be given showing how quickly new breeds of cattle, sheep, and other animals, and varieties of flowers, take the place of older and inferior kinds.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

The wonderful character of that training, however, is fairly manifested only when the really professional tones of the voice are used,—falsetto tones, never touching, but often curiously sweet.
— from Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East by Lafcadio Hearn

First a heavy crash from above told that the roof had fallen; then the front wall was forced in, probably burying amid its ruins the papers and books of Captain Seaworth, and causing Philip’s hiding-place
— from Captured by Apes; or, How Philip Garland Became King of Apeland by Harry Prentice

The channel was overspread with prodigious fragments of rocks or large loose stones, some of them smooth and bare, others containing soil and verdure in their rents and fissures, and here and there crowned with shrubs and trees.
— from McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader by William Holmes McGuffey

—Buds oblong, conical, short.
— from Handbook of the Trees of New England by Henry M. (Henry Mason) Brooks

Put in half a tablespoonful of salt, a bunch of chopped straw, and a little grated pumice-stone, then add the rice.
— from Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various

But, if circumstances beyond our control should prevent us from partaking of it, we may be saved without it.
— from The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young, Vol. 3 by Richard Newton

You might have fancied that Harry and Donald saw enough snakes to keep them from wanting to hear about any more, but Old Cranky’s snake stories fascinated them as the snakes fascinate the little birds.
— from The Boy in the Bush by Richard Rowe

A brigade of cavalry, supported by infantry, only three men of which escaped, made a charge.
— from Three Years in the Service A Record of the Doings of the 11th Reg. Missouri Vols. by D. McCall

Further away a murmuring brook or crystal streamlet may be heard hurrying down a rocky hillside or winding between towering cliffs, adding its share to the tuneful sound of the powerful orchestra that seems everywhere to be heard.
— from The Beauties of the State of Washington: A Book for Tourists by Harry F. Giles