DEINOTHERIUM, n. An extinct pachyderm that flourished when the Pterodactyl was in fashion. The latter was a native of Ireland, its name being pronounced Terry Dactyl or Peter O'Dactyl, as the man pronouncing it may chance to have heard it spoken or seen it printed. - Ambrose Bierce
Courtly love-poetry may first have been written during long periods of abstinence on the Crusades, but it would not have flourished in the cold of northern Europe without some help from the chimney.
Many existing top 20 Scottish writers have flourished in part because of good turns done by institutions, arts community, libraries and bookshops. - Sara Sheridan
Over the course of human history, many items have briefly flourished as means of exchange, only to be demonetarized. Now, we have demonetarized money. - Markham Shaw Pyle
The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples. - Lyndon B. Johnson