Obliged

He wished his old aunt Crumpe, he said, to live and enjoy all she had as long as she could; and if she chose to leave it to him after her death, well and good; he should be much obliged to her: if she did not, why well and good; he should not _be obliged_ to be obliged to her: and that, to his humour, would perhaps be better still. ❋ Maria Edgeworth (1808)

Last night when the vertigo-induced nausea was making it hard to sleep, the brain obliged by writing a big chunk of [cue ominous pipe organ music here] the dreaded synopsis. ❋ Unknown (2008)

I am obliged always to use the English word "Grace" in two senses, but remember that the Greek [Greek: charis] includes them both (the bestowing, that is to say of Beauty and Mercy); and especially it includes these in the passage of Pindar's first ode, which gives us the key to the right interpretation of the power of sculpture in Greece. ❋ John Ruskin (1859)

I am obliged always to use the English word 'Grace' in two senses, but remember that the Greek [Greek: charis] includes them both (the bestowing, that is to say, of Beauty and Mercy); and especially it includes these in the passage of Pindar's first ode, which gives us the key to the right interpretation of the power of sculpture in Greece. ❋ John Ruskin (1859)

We rested that night on the south side of a hill, which the wind had partly denuded of snow, leaving here and there spots quite divested of it; but found neither grass nor water, both of which were greatly needed, and but scant supply of sage (wormwood) which we were obliged from the absence of every other, to use as a substitute for fuel. ❋ Unknown (1844)

You cannot: you are obliged to keep the French word; and yet you take for granted, without inquiry, that in the word 'witchcraft,' and in the word ❋ Thomas De Quincey (1822)

We are therefore obliged to adopt the French words themselves as well as we can to our own idiom, with some variations for the sake of euphony and analogy, as far as these can be obtained. ❋ Unknown (1812)

Yet here he was, with half a hundred communications to dictate in Greek, obliged to dictate in Latin with curt instructions to his secretaries to make their own translations. ❋ Colleen McCullough (2007)

But he ventured it, because God's word obliged him to do it. ❋ Koestlin, Julius (1881)

'Lord Hollingford ought to have been with us,' she said, amongst other things; 'but he is obliged, or fancies himself obliged, which is all the same thing, to stay in town about this Crichton legacy!' ❋ Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1837)

I wrote in haste to the syndic, telling him that an important and sudden call obliged me to start for Lausanne, but that I should have the pleasure of supping with him and his three friends at ❋ Unknown (1827)

I wrote in haste to the syndic, telling him that an important and sudden call obliged me to start for Lausanne, but that I should have the pleasure of supping with him and his three friends at Geneva on the following day. ❋ Giacomo Casanova (1761)

It's Dan's (or is it Jordan's) dream to do win the race, so his sibling obliged, which is kind of sweet. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Rampton wondered who "obliged, that is to say, compelled Himmler to make this call?" ❋ Unknown (2009)

In theory, for example, all Catholics are "obliged", according to the Catechism (or rule book), to attend mass each Sunday. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Obama has to launch a big enough response in the same state such that the echo chamber would feel "obliged" to also state his response to show a modicum of the modest "fair and balance" fig leaf they pretend to hold. ❋ Unknown (2009)

David P. McCann Honolulu, HawaiiAnna Quindlen is right when she says that Tiger Woods isn't "obliged" to use his celebrity for good causes, but to do so would mean the difference between going down in history as a great golfer or as a great man. ❋ Unknown (2007)

So how are we "obliged" to support NATO in Afghanistan if NATO is operating outside it purview in being there in the first place? ❋ Unknown (2006)