On the other hand, a man-god of the magical sort is nothing but a man who possesses in an unusually high degree powers which most of his fellows arrogate to themselves on a smaller scale; for in rude society there is hardly a person who does not dabble in magic.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

It is a mass of hieroglyphics, each the graphic symbol for some definite human sensation or reaction; only these symbols have been extraordinarily enriched and are fused in representation, so that, like instruments in an orchestra, they are merged in the voluminous sensation they constitute together, a sensation in which, for attentive perception, they never cease to exist.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

The shepherd firmly grasped the sword, and as he drew it from its rusty scabbard the eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to open, and they rose till they sat upright.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

In furias ignemque ruunt.” [“So that all living things, men and animals, wild or tame, and fish and gaudy fowl, rush to this flame of love.” —Virgil, Georg., iii. 244.]
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

‘My good friend, Mr Noggs, what news do you bring for me?’ Newman, with a steadfast and immovable aspect, and his fixed eye very fixed indeed, replied, suiting the action to the word, ‘A letter.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

In very many other cases, though there is no special mechanical contrivance to prevent the stigma receiving pollen from the same flower, yet, as Sprengel, and more recently Hildebrand and others have shown, and as I can confirm, either the anthers burst before the stigma is ready for fertilisation, or the stigma is ready before the pollen of that flower is ready, so that these so-named dichogamous plants have in fact separated sexes, and must habitually be crossed.
— 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

"Then it pleases me to be able to call you a fool, in return," said the horse.
— from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

I did not feel very shocked, for it really seemed to me natural and right.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Instead of being the youngest of the family, it rather seemed to have aggregated into itself the ages, not only of these living specimens of the breed, but of all its forefathers and foremothers, whose united excellences and oddities were squeezed into its little body.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

From its relative situation then, I should call this high hump the organ of firmness or indomitableness in the Sperm Whale.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

The bullhead is a fish that has no scales, but in lieu thereof is a fine India rubber skin, that is as far ahead of fiddle string material for strength and durability as possible.
— from Peck's Compendium of Fun Comprising the Choicest Gems of Wit, Humor, Sarcasm and Pathos of America's Favorite Humorist by George W. (George Wilbur) Peck

"I have named the place," Bass wrote, "from its relative situation to every other known harbour on the coast, Western Port.
— from The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Scott, Ernest, Sir

In spite of these discouragements, however, various men set themselves to form in rapid succession the Potomac Company in 1785, the Society for Promoting the Improvement of Inland Navigation in 1791, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company in 1792, and the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in 1793.
— from The Paths of Inland Commerce; A Chronicle of Trail, Road, and Waterway by Archer Butler Hulbert

"'Polly said it belonged to Martha's father,' I replied; 'she told me so just before they left me to go home.' "'Polly, I hope, has quite made up her mind not to run away,' said Vea.
— from Bluff Crag; or, A Good Word Costs Nothing by Cupples, George, Mrs.

His voice had grown more steady and his look more determined as he put these rapid questions to Clyffurde, whose expressive face showed no sign of any feeling in response save that of complete and indifferent puzzlement.
— from The Bronze Eagle: A Story of the Hundred Days by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

Persecution, for imputed righteousness’ sake, tries our profession and principles, and gives an occasion to rejoice in the honor of suffering for Christ’s sake.—A body of sin and death, called the plague of the heart, tries our hope, and helps us to prize the blood of Jesus more and more.—Pain of body—delays of answer to prayer, try our patience.—False doctrines in the world, try our love; while the devil’s fiery darts of blasphemous thoughts, often try our faith—thus as our earthen vessels break, the light appears; and we often shout victory, through the atonement and righteousness of Jesus, and by the faithfulness of God.—This light appears in the whole of their conduct, as external evidences of an internal work—in their love to, and zeal for the truth as it is in Jesus—in their unfeigned love to the brethren, as they stand manifest in each other’s consciences that they are called by grace—in p. 44 their just dealings with each other, and the world at large—“the Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, O mountain of holiness.
— from Spiritual Victories Through the Light of Salvation by J. (John) Church

Once it was the chief commercial port of the Hadhramout valley, but now Makalla has quite superseded it, for Sheher is nothing but an open roadstead with a couple of baggalas belonging to the family of Al Kaiti, which generally have to go to Hami to shelter, and its buildings are now falling into ruins, since the Kattiri were driven away.
— from Southern Arabia by Bent, Theodore, Mrs.

Faraday, I remember, spoke to me subsequently of the perfection of iron castings as probably due to the swelling of the metal on solidification.
— from Six Lectures on Light Delivered In The United States In 1872-1873 by John Tyndall

It is all plain sailing till the image or phantasm in the sensitive faculty is reached; so that at 0833.png the point where the Scholastics commenced their subtle and elaborate system Dr. Hammond complacently dismisses the question by saying: “And the image is perceived.”
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 23, April, 1876-September, 1876. A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various