On the other hand, there are species which can be crossed very rarely, or with extreme difficulty, but the hybrids, when at last produced, are very fertile.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

Maybe there was a murmur in the village streets, a novel and dominant topic in the public-houses, and here and there a messenger, or even an eye-witness of the later occurrences, caused a whirl of excitement, a shouting, and a running to and fro; but for the most part the daily routine of working, eating, drinking, sleeping, went on as it had done for countless years—as though no planet Mars existed in the sky.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

The struggling and fretting after originality that one sees in modern art is certainly an evidence of vitality, but one is inclined to doubt whether anything really original was ever done in so forced a way.
— from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed

I have often wished I might see the first picture that such a man as Titian, or Rubens, or Reynolds, or West, ever drew.
— from The Diving Bell; Or, Pearls to be Sought for by Francis C. (Francis Channing) Woodworth

Behind the head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was crammed with bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets hanging from them at the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar physiognomy to law papers.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

[Pg 94] Full. —Experiences a good degree of religious worship, whenever circumstances excite this faculty, yet allows the larger faculties frequently to divert it, and prays at least internally; with large or very large Conscience or Benevolence, will place his religion in doing right and doing good, more than in religious observances; will esteem duties higher than ceremonies; with large propensities, may be devout upon the Sabbath, yet will be worldly through the week, and experience some conflict between his religious and his worldly aspirations: p. 149.
— from The Illustrated Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology by O. S. (Orson Squire) Fowler

But both those who only saw the apparent drift as well as those who guessed at the real one were equally determined in their opposition.
— from An Englishman in Paris: Notes and Recollections by Albert D. (Albert Dresden) Vandam

Couples were footing the polka called "The Kisses," famous at public balls, and the rhythm of which each dancer had to mark by kissing his partner.
— from The Rush for the Spoil (La Curée): A Realistic Novel by Émile Zola

For instance, at Camp Dixton each enlisted man received, or was each day credited with, what is called the “garrison ration.”
— from The Motor Boys in the Army; or, Ned, Bob and Jerry as Volunteers by Clarence Young

Although I had no doubt that this honourable personage, for the purpose of disgracing me or endangering my life, had, in that true national spirit of revenge of which every day brought forth some new example, forged the letter which Gascoigne received; still I had not sufficient proof of the fact, either to "call him out," or place him under arrest.
— from Adventures of an Aide-de-Camp; or, A Campaign in Calabria, Volume 2 (of 3) by James Grant