Some parents have entirely prohibited their children from tasting intoxicating liquors; but a parent's authority cannot last for ever; children are naturally
prone to hanker after forbidden things; and a child, in such a case, would be likely to have a strong curiosity to taste, and try the effect of what has been so lauded and enjoyed by others, so strictly forbidden to himself - which curiosity would generally be gratified on the first convenient opportunity; and the restraint once broken, serious consequences might ensue.
This occurred with great frequency, for, once in full cry, the dogs were
prone to forget themselves in the excitement of the chase, while White Fang never forgot himself.
A nature
prone to false enthusiasm, and the vanity of being a leader, were the worst qualities apparent in his composition.
We rose up, and in a few minutes were ready, and yet we hesitated a little, as human nature is
prone to hesitate on the threshold of an irrevocable step.
This change in service was most welcome to me, especially as it brought with it coveted responsibilities of sole command, and I was
prone to overlook the deficiencies of the Coldwater in the natural pride I felt in my first ship.
As they enjoy their favorite state of hostility with all these tribes, their expeditions are
prone to be conducted in the most lawless and predatory style; nor do they hesitate to extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet with; following their trails; hovering about their camps; waylaying and dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary trapper.
Angel waxed quite earnest on that rather automatic orthodoxy in his beloved Tess which (never dreaming that it might stand him in such good stead) he had been
prone to slight when observing it practised by her and the other milkmaids, because of its obvious unreality amid beliefs essentially naturalistic.
Pilgrims, always
prone to find prophecies in the Bible, and often where none exist, speak cheerfully and complacently of poor, ruined Ephesus as the victim of prophecy.
I cannot say that he was never again misled by his hopefulness: the yield of crops or the profits of a cattle sale usually fell below his estimate; and he was always
prone to believe that he could make money by the purchase of a horse which turned out badly-- though this, Mary observed, was of course the fault of the horse, not of Fred's judgment.
The lips themselves were thin, and
prone to close tightly over the even, white teeth.
They sat on through the passing glory of the day, talking as lovers are
prone to talk, marvelling at the wonder of love and at destiny that had flung them so strangely together, and dogmatically believing that they loved to a degree never attained by lovers before.
He proceeded: And now when the young hear all this said about virtue and vice, and the way in which gods and men regard them, how are their minds likely to be affected, my dear Socrates,-- those of them, I mean, who are quickwitted, and, like bees on the wing, light on every flower, and from all that they hear are
prone to draw conclusions as to what manner of persons they should be and in what way they should walk if they would make the best of life?
The evil of these departed years would naturally have sprung up again, in such rank weeds (symbolic of the transmitted vices of society) as are always
prone to root themselves about human dwellings.
I hardly know how it has happened; a little, perhaps, from that wickedness on my side which was
prone to take disgust towards a girl so idolized and so cried up as she always was, by her aunt and grandmother, and all their set.
Reed would have endured my presence more complacently; her children would have entertained for me more of the cordiality of fellow-feeling; the servants would have been less
prone to make me the scapegoat of the nursery.