Motives

Examples

• The same experienced union has the same effect on the mind, whether the united objects be motives, volitions and actions; or figure and motion. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• According to that doctrine, motives deprive us not of free-will, nor take away our power of performing or forbearing any action. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• Could softer motives influence me? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• Most of its motives are purely instinctive, and all the mental life that it has is the result of heredity (birth inheritance). H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• Judge from this, what motives he had to run the risk which he actually ran. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
• She felt so free from ulterior motives that she took up his charge with a touch of resentment. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
• They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
• A man may, from various motives, decline to give his company, but perhaps not even a sage would be gratified that nobody missed him. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• These are the motives which I have been pressing on you. Jane Austen. Emma.
• Most people have motives of some sort for their actions. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• The tangle of motives and facts and ideas was incredible. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• I was not fond of pampering that susceptible vanity of his; but for once, and from motives of expediency, I would e'en soothe and stimulate it. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
• Were it not, mere charity or friendship could be the only motives for lending. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• I assure you I am in no danger of putting any strained construction on your motives. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• The utility element is found in the motives assigned for the study, the liberal element in methods of teaching. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
• Of course, he entered at this juncture, into no explanation of his motives, and they walked on very lovingly together. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
• Various motives urged Bulstrode to this open-handedness, but he did not himself inquire closely into all of them. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• The motives which led me from my country and my friends to a new world of adventure and peril are known. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• If so, the authors of the _Iliad_ hid the motives of their characters very skilfully. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• Many of us are ready to grant that in the past men's motives were deeper than their intellects: we forgive them with a kind of self-righteousness which says that they knew not what they did. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• You put your own base construction on my motives. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
• The motives of those who supported this step were conflicting. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• In which-ever way you take it, you find only certain passions, motives, volitions and thoughts. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• It was pitiable that he, who knew the mixed motives on which social judgments depend, should still feel himself so swayed by them. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
• Not then from motives of pure philanthropy? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• While I am in your service, Sir Percival, I said, I hope I know my duty well enough not to inquire into your motives. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• My position is defined--my motives are acknowledged. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• What your motives are, or what exact part you play in this strange business, I am not yet able to say. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
• No motives but motives of sheer patriotism? Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
• Yet Archer was convinced that Madame Olenska had not accepted her grandmother's offer from interested motives. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.

Typist: Nelda