Literary notes about impel (AI summary)
In literature, "impel" is frequently used to denote a driving force—be it internal passion, instinct, or external compulsion—that moves characters or elements of nature toward action. Authors deploy the term both in a figurative sense, such as when inner convictions or emotions prompt decisive behavior [1, 2, 3], and in a literal sense, describing the physical movement of objects like oars propelling a boat [4, 5]. In epic and classical works, "impel" conveys the sense of fated or divine influence directing events, as when celestial commands or natural forces set heroic figures in motion [6, 7]. Philosophical reflections on human motivation also harness the term to question what drives individuals to act, suggesting that impulses—whether noble or ignoble—are at the root of personal and societal actions [8, 9, 10].
- Rage, the passion that burns within me, will impel me to profit by it.
— from Dona Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós - Now, you can act as your conscience and your reason impel you; but it is always better, I think, to work in the full daylight."
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 18, October, 1873, to March, 1874.
A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various - Our passions impel us outside, even when no objects present themselves to excite them.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal - 3.4. 2 Pe. 2.17; to impel a vessel by oars, to row, Mar. 6.48.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - I asked and received leave to go on shore, and pushed as fast as four oars could impel me to the usual landing-place near the old nunnery.
— from Bentley's Miscellany, Volume II by Various - Then may his teaching cheerfully impel thee: Dost thou, as man, increase the stores of truth?
— from Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - and so propitious gales Attend thy voyage, and impel thy sails;
— from The Odyssey by Homer - "Yet what possible motive could Van Zwieten have had to impel him to such a crime?"
— from A Traitor in London by Fergus Hume - Whence is the motive derived which should impel me to one line of conduct in preference to the other?
— from Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1 by Thomas De Quincey - He took a deep and comprehensive view of the causes that impel men to action and of the results produced by the multifarious influences that control
— from The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll (Levi Carroll) Judson