Upon these the Ornithorhynchus voyaged in peace; voyaged from clime to clime, from hemisphere to hemisphere, in contentment and comfort, in virile interest in the constant change of scene, in humble thankfulness for its privileges, in ever-increasing enthusiasm in the development of the great theory upon whose validity it had staked its life, its fortunes, and its sacred honor, if I may use such expressions without impropriety in connection with an episode of this nature.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

I do not mean that the rudiments of Sociological knowledge which we now possess are of no practical value: for certainly changes in morality might be suggested—and have actually been proposed by persons seriously concerned to benefit their fellow-creatures—which even our present imperfect knowledge would lead us to regard as dangerous to the very existence of the social organism.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

SYN: Empty, pointless, vapid, feeble, characterless.
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

Pío VII fijó casualmente la vista en nosotros, y sin duda 05 conoció, por nuestros
— from Novelas Cortas by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón

Then in the winter evenings there were “carols” to be practised for Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before the days of harmoniums and organs.
— from English Villages by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield

With the hereditary legislator in whom eloquence is a far-descended attainment—a rich echo repeated by powerful voices from Cicero downward—we will match some wondrous backwoodsman, who has caught a wild power of language from the breeze among his native forest boughs.
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

[19] The solid wood-block plane, varying from country to country only in the structure of its handles and body decoration, had preserved its integrity of design since the Middle Ages.
— from Woodworking Tools 1600-1900 by Peter C. Welsh

Several of the pieces are ostensibly in explanation of my own writings; but in that very process they best include and set forth their side of principles and generalities pressing vehemently for consideration our age.
— from Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman

And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright .
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

The difficulty in carrying rational policy very far comes partly from the refractory materials at hand, and partly from the narrow range within which moral science is usually confined.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

“That woman is, in my opinion, a poor, vain, frivolous creature.
— from Daddy's Girl by L. T. Meade

The terms probably varied from case to case.
— from The Heroic Age by H. Munro (Hector Munro) Chadwick

Mr. W. Thompson, the distinguished Natural Historian of Ireland, has sent me the [Pg vii] finest collection of British species, and their varieties, which I have seen, together with many very valuable MS. observations, and the results of experiments.
— from A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2) The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated Cirripedes by Charles Darwin

In the midst of the general anxiety there came to Paris on April 13, 1791, the Bull of Pope Pius VI., formally condemning the Civil Constitution and calling upon the bishops and priests of France to stand firmly to the principles of their faith.
— from The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe by Francis A. (Francis Aloysius) Cunningham

Occasionally, perhaps four or five times in the year, the Reverend Edward Pewlay, who had what he called a tenor voice, and his wife, who played the pianoforte very fairly, came over to assist at a Penny Reading.
— from A Tale of a Lonely Parish by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

If, however, as is usual in practice, there be approximately the same acid radicles throughout the tannage and about the same relative proportion of organic matters or of inorganic salts, then these determinations have some practical value for comparative purposes.
— from Animal Proteins by Hugh Garner Bennett