However, I am not
prone to sensitiveness, and the following of a sense of duty, wherever it may lead, has always been a kind of fetich with me throughout my life; which may account for the honors bestowed upon me by three republics and the decorations and friendships of an old and powerful emperor and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword has been red many a time.
Such is the kind of swaggering and rhodomontade in which the "red men" are
prone to indulge in their vainglorious moments; for, with all their vaunted taciturnity, they are vehemently
prone at times to become eloquent about their exploits, and to sound their own trumpet.
For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying
prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured.
This, then, is one species of monarchical government in which the kingly power is in a general for life; and is sometimes hereditary, sometimes elective: besides, there is also another, which is to be met with among some of the barbarians, in which the kings are invested with powers nearly equal to a tyranny, yet are, in some respects, bound by the laws and the customs of their country; for as the barbarians are by nature more
prone to slavery than the Greeks, and those in Asia more than those in Europe, they endure without murmuring a despotic government; for this reason their governments are tyrannies; but yet not liable to be overthrown, as being customary and according to law.
The night was nearly spent; Ma'ame Pelagie had glided from the bench upon which she had rested, and for hours lay
prone upon the stone flagging, motionless.
I am as suspicious and
prone to take offence as a humpback or a dwarf.
By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly
prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary.
It is strange that the winds which men are
prone to style capricious remain true to their character in all the various regions of the earth.
It is true, I had not yet learned that I must say "It is I"; but I no longer was guilty of a double negative in writing, though still
prone to that error in excited speech.
Even idleness is eager now--eager for amusement;
prone to excursion-trains, art museums, periodical literature, and exciting novels;
prone even to scientific theorizing and cursory peeps through microscopes.
At first he had been
prone to turn upon his pursuers, jealous of his dignity and wrathful; but at such times Mit-sah would throw the stinging lash of the thirty-foot cariboo-gut whip into his face and compel him to turn tail and run on.
Millward,' suggested he, when at length that gentleman paused in his discourse, 'that when a child may be naturally
prone to intemperance - by the fault of its parents or ancestors, for instance - some precautions are advisable?' (Now it was generally believed that Mr.