Naturalists look back to chaos since they observe everything growing from seeds and shifting its character in regeneration.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

He knew it was Napoleon—his hero—but at that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a small, insignificant creature compared with what was passing now between himself and that lofty infinite sky with the clouds flying over it.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Up, and by water to White Hall, and there met with Mr. Coventry, who tells me the only news from the fleete is brought by Captain Elliott, of The Portland, which, by being run on board by The Guernsey, was disabled from staying abroad; so is come in to Aldbrough.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Mr. F. Smith has shown how surprisingly the neuters of several British ants differ from each other in size and sometimes in colour; and that the extreme forms can sometimes be perfectly linked together by individuals taken out of the same nest: I have myself compared perfect gradations of this kind.
— 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

They look'd up to the sky, whose floating glow Spread like a rosy ocean, vast and bright; They gazed upon the glittering sea below, Whence the broad moon rose circling into sight; They heard the wave's splash, and the wind so low, And saw each other's dark eyes darting light Into each other—and, beholding this, Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss; A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth, and love, And beauty, all concentrating like rays Into one focus, kindled from above; Such kisses as belong to early days, Where heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move, And the blood 's lava, and the pulse a blaze, Each kiss a heart-quake,—for a kiss's strength, I think, it must be reckon'd by its length.
— from Don Juan by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

Here she was, safe and still in Cossethay.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

The Small Speckled Pheasant found in the Rocky Mountains, and differ from the large black and white pheasant only in point of Size, and Somewhat in colour.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

Any great elevation of place communicates a kind of pride or sublimity of imagination, and gives a fancyed superiority over those that lie below; and, vice versa, a sublime and strong imagination conveys the idea of ascent and elevation.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

In Cabin'd Ships at Sea In cabin'd ships at sea, The boundless blue on every side expanding, With whistling winds and music of the waves, the large imperious waves, Or some lone bark buoy'd on the dense marine, Where joyous full of faith, spreading white sails, She cleaves the ether mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under many a star at night, By sailors young and old haply will I, a reminiscence of the land, be read, In full rapport at last.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Ever hearkeneth the Self, and seeketh; it compareth, mastereth, conquereth, and destroyeth.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

When the sketch was finished he leaned back and closed one eye, and moved his head from side to side and surveyed it critically.
— from Van Bibber and Others by Richard Harding Davis

The boldness, with which these songs are sung in chorus by young peasant women, has often excited the astonishment of foreigners.
— from Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations With a Sketch of Their Popular Poetry by Talvj

Fearing the jolly-boat had come to grief among the rocks and counter-currents, Chirikoff bade Sidor Savelief, the bo'swain, and six armed sailors, including carpenters to repair damages, take the remaining boat and go to Dementieff's rescue.
— from Vikings of the Pacific The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward by Agnes C. Laut

If Mr. M. solicits a seat in Congress, I am sure he will be more just to himself, and more respectful to his electors, than to claim it on this ground.
— from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private by Thomas Jefferson

"I don't believe they'll bother me," said Trask, and calling to Tom to bring him a frying pan, he measured out two or three cupfuls of sand and spread it carefully in the pan.
— from Isle o' Dreams by Frederick Ferdinand Moore

And Lady Sybil has undertaken, as soon as she is crowned, to select her future husband.
— from Lady Sybil's Choice: A Tale of the Crusades by Emily Sarah Holt

If I were in such a situation I could not wish to carry myself better, and surely I can say no more than that.
— from The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle

“You lie,” they cried, “for you do not go barefoot;” and when he put out his foot confidently, he found that he was wearing those same shoes: and starting in confusion from sleep, he threw the shoes into the middle of the courtyard.’
— from The Grey Friars in Oxford by A. G. (Andrew George) Little

Such a shelf is called Mitama-San-no-tana, or—"Shelf of the august spirits."
— from Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation by Lafcadio Hearn