A man who reaches the age of thirty without understanding women is like a bluebottle who devotes a summer morning to an endeavour to fly through a pane of glass.
"The Orchard of Tears"
Sax Rohmer
The air was still, with the drone of the sea, coming like the hum of a big bluebottle, and bymby, through the stillness I yeard the sudden excited yapping of the pack, followed after a spell by a loud bark, I looked at the three dogs, and they was all looking across the veld with the water running from their mouths.
"Tales from the Veld"
Ernest Glanville
Meantime, however, the motor was travelling hither and thither, making no more noise than a bluebottle buzzing in the sunshine.
"Paris From the "Three Cities""
Emile Zola