The association of ideas seems to be the same as that which in Ireland causes a fat mealy potato, which cracks open in boiling, to be called a “laughing” potato.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

As before, Anna Akimovna felt that she was beautiful, good-natured, and wonderful, but now it seemed to her that that was of no use to any one; it seemed to her that she did not know for whom and for what she had put on this expensive dress, too, and, as always happened on all holidays, she began to be fretted by loneliness and
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The tail of the giraffe looks like an artificially constructed fly-flapper; and it seems at first incredible that this could have been adapted for its present purpose by successive slight modifications, each better and better fitted, for so trifling an object as to drive away flies; yet we should pause before being too positive even in this case, for we know that the distribution and existence of cattle and other animals in South America absolutely depend on their power of resisting the attacks of insects: so that individuals which could by any means defend themselves from these small enemies, would be able to range into new pastures and thus gain a great advantage.
— 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

Instead of being a haughty pulpit, equal to any occasion, it seemed to offer humble apology for its absurd existence.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo Edited with a Biography of Juliette Drouet by Louis Guimbaud

It remains to find out if the advantage obtained is sufficient to win.
— from Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca

And though this anger should not be real, still they think his words and gestures ought to wear the appearance of it, so that the action of the orator may excite the anger of his hearer.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

As it is with writers [6679] oftentimes, Plus sanctimoniae, in libello, quam libelli auctore , more holiness is in the book than in the author of it: so 'tis with them: many come to church with great Bibles, whom Cardan said he could not choose but laugh at, and will now and then dare operam Augustino , read Austin, frequent sermons, and yet professed usurers, mere gripes, tota vitae ratio epicurea est ; all their life is epicurism and atheism, come to church all day, and lie with a courtesan at night.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

on their power of resisting the attacks of insects: so that individuals which could by any means defend themselves from these small enemies, would be able to range into new pastures and thus gain a great advantage.
— 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

A mile away, a grove-plumed promontory juts far into the lake and glasses its palace in the blue depths; in midstream a boat is cutting the shining surface and leaving a long track behind, like a ray of light; the mountains beyond are veiled in a dreamy purple haze; far in the opposite direction a tumbled mass of domes and verdant slopes and valleys bars the lake, and here indeed does distance lend enchantment to the view—for on this broad canvas, sun and clouds and the richest of atmospheres have blended a thousand tints together, and over its surface the filmy lights and shadows drift, hour after hour, and glorify it with a beauty that seems reflected out of Heaven itself.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Do not let any one think, "this is all very well for quiet homes, but I cannot be expected to act on it, since 'the week-end' is always so busy."
— from Stray Thoughts for Girls by Lucy Helen Muriel Soulsby

The first time was when I learned through acquaintances of Ivan Sergeievitch that Zorinsky believed me to be back in Petrograd, and had related to somebody in tones of admiration that he himself had seen me driving down the Nevsky Prospect in a carriage and pair in the company of one of the chief Bolshevist Commissars!
— from Red Dusk and the Morrow: Adventures and Investigations in Red Russia by Paul Dukes

The Action of it seems to be the Conquest of Troy ; the Fable, the Trojan War; and the Anger of Achilles , an important Incident, serving to aggrandize the Heroe, and consequently the Action, and to render them more illustrious; as also at the same time to convey that useful Moral, concerning the fatal Effects of Discord and Contention.
— from The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718) by Joseph Trapp

When, therefore, the novelty of telephonic entertainments was over, the people tired of them, and hardly cared to listen to the amusing or instructive sounds they had paid their money to ensure.
— from New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future by Corbett, George, Mrs.

The latter class were, in those ages of ignorance, sure to gain by such a compact, [1177] and they received considerable temporal advantages in return for the prayers which they offered up against the enemy, as also for the miracles which they occasionally performed.
— from History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3 by Henry Thomas Buckle

Upon the angle of its shade The cypress stood, self-balanced high; Half up, half down, as double-made, Along the ground, against the sky; And we , too!
— from The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 4 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In 1585, when the Spaniards were threatening a descent on the English coasts and the alarm of invasion spread through the country, Henry, Earl of Derby, was appointed by the Queen Lord Lieutenant of the two counties of Lancaster and Chester, with power to appoint his own provost marshal, whose duty was to enforce discipline and maintain order among the troops who were to be drilled and trained and kept in readiness to repel the common enemy.
— from Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive. by James Croston

Looking back now, with somewhat more leisure, at the passage through which we had thus far proceeded, we clearly saw, from the appearance of its sides, that it was of late formation, and we concluded that the concussion, whatever it was, which had so unexpectedly overwhelmed us, had also, at the same moment, laid open this path for escape.
— from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827. by Edgar Allan Poe

Nor were such minor divinities likely to provoke the wrath even of that “jealous god” who later usurped all the adoration of Israel: so that denunciations of their votaries are comparatively rare in the rhapsodies of the prophets.
— from The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry Into the Origins of Religions by Grant Allen