Abilities

Examples

• The same theory accounts for the esteem and regard we pay to men of extraordinary parts and abilities. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• A wife, a modest young lady, with the purely appreciative, unambitious abilities of her sex, is sure to think her husband's mind powerful. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• I, who have valued myself on my abilities! Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
• The principal reason why natural abilities are esteemed, is because of their tendency to be useful to the person, who is possessed of them. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• His abilities, in both these respects, are generally in proportion to the extent of his stock, or to the number of people whom it can employ. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• How one person's abilities compare in quantity with those of another is none of the teacher's business. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
• Birth, abilities, and education, had been equally marking one as an associate for her, to be received with gratitude; and the otherwhat was she? Jane Austen. Emma.
• She was very pretty and not, I think, deficient in natural abilities, though it is really very good of me to say so; for she could not endure me! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
• Have they contributed to encourage the diligence, and to improve the abilities, of the teachers? Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• He does not want abilities. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
• They would rather NOT have a man of Mr. Micawber's abilities. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• And that their money ought not to be given away without their consent, by persons at a distance, unacquainted with their circumstances and abilities. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
• Betsey went with alacrity, proud to shew her abilities before her fine new sister. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
• My surmises did not for a moment class a man of the Count's abilities and social position with the ordinary rank and file of foreign spies. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• To confess the truth, I very heartily wished, and not for the first time, that I had had some other guardian of minor abilities. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
• Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor's. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
• It was the old girl that brought out my musical abilities. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• A mean opinion of her abilities was not confined to _them_. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
• Fourthly, of the acquired and useful abilities of all the inhabitants and members of the society. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• The guests looked at the young man, but he hastened to disclaim any such abilities, and said that he had never even seen cotton-seed. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
• When the establishment of law and order afforded him this leisure, he often wanted the inclination, and almost always the requisite abilities. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• I have told Spaniards we can do something better than they can when the rule is never to speak of your own exploits or abilities. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
• The abilities, both civil and military, of the Greeks and Romans, will readily be allowed to have been at least equal to those of any modern nation. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• Now, are the circumstances of the country such, that a man of Mr. Micawber's abilities would have a fair chance of rising in the social scale? Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• It was thus, as we are told by Machiavel, that the agents of Lorenzo of Medicis, not a prince of mean abilities, carried on his trade. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• His abilities in every respect improve as much upon acquaintance as his manners and person. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
• They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I had formed of his abilities. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
• The natural disposition of most people is to clothe a commander of a large army whom they do not know, with almost superhuman abilities. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
• If you had the abilities of all the great men, past and present, you could do nothing well without sincerely meaning it and setting about it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• A man of real abilities can scarce find out a more humiliating or a more unprofitable employment to turn them to. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

Checked by Jacques