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Err   /ɛr/  /ər/   Listen
Err

verb
(past & past part. erred; pres. part. erring)
1.
To make a mistake or be incorrect.  Synonyms: mistake, slip.
2.
Wander from a direct course or at random.  Synonyms: drift, stray.  "Don't drift from the set course"



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"Err" Quotes from Famous Books



... priest, unto whom alone it appertaineth to conceive such matter. 'Tis true, there be that say lay folk can as well conceive, and have as much right as any priest; but holy Church agreeth not therewith. God be merciful to us all, whereinsoever we do err! ...
— In Convent Walls - The Story of the Despensers • Emily Sarah Holt

... such as I am," the beautiful voice went on, "hath He died. And in the ages to come, women such as I, and all women who sorrow, and all men who err and are deceived, and all the helpless world, will know that this was the Friend of the human soul." Not a gesture, not a movement, only that slight, pathetic figure, with pale, agonised face, and eyes that looked—looked—looked beyond them, over their heads to ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... aspirations as that which Marcus Aurelius has left, is the clear consenting voice of all his contemporaries,—high and low, friend and enemy, pagan and Christian,—in praise of his sincerity, justice, and goodness. The world's charity does not err on the side of excess, and here was a man occupying the most conspicuous station in the world, and professing the highest possible standard of conduct;—yet the world was obliged to declare that he walked worthily of his profession. Long after his death, his bust ...
— Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold • Matthew Arnold

... that emergency; and if we are faced, as I think for this decade we must expect to be faced, with that dilemma which I indicated earlier, I should prefer, and I hope that every Liberal will prefer, to err by putting the scale of relief somewhat too high for prudence and equity rather than obviously too ...
— Essays in Liberalism - Being the Lectures and Papers Which Were Delivered at the - Liberal Summer School at Oxford, 1922 • Various

... themselves; hereby this liberty of election is not at all infringed or violated, but for their own advantage regulated, &c. 3. Not absolute, and infallible; but limited and fallible: any synod or council may err, being constituted of men that are weak, frail, ignorant in part, &c., and therefore all their decrees and determinations are to be examined by the touchstone of the Scriptures, nor are they further to be embraced, or counted obligatory, than they are consonant thereunto, Isa. viii. 20. Hence ...
— The Divine Right of Church Government • Sundry Ministers Of Christ Within The City Of London

... think I do not err in saying, that very wine your respected father, Sir Pylcher Feverel, used to taste whenever he came to consult my father, when I was a boy. And I remember one day being called in, and Sir Pylcher himself poured me out a glass. I wish I could call in ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... unbelief is sure to err. And scan His work in vain: God is His own interpreter. And He will make ...
— Mistress and Maid • Dinah Craik (aka: Miss Mulock)

... solely from the sacred volume, and are full of peace and righteousness—tending purely to its happiness and prosperity. If these directions were strictly and constantly followed, our churches, notwithstanding the liability of the members to err, would each present ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... in reference to some of his scientific discoveries, had heard rumors of papal persecution, and as a cautious friend whispered to him the unpleasing tidings, he had exclaimed, "Never will I barter the freedom of my intellect to one as liable to err as myself!" ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. • Various

... much upon age, sex, occupation, season, and climate, but the quantity is quite as important as the quality. Appetite would be a sure guide in both respects were it not so often perverted and diseased. As a general rule, we eat too much. It is better to err in the other direction. An uncomfortable feeling of fullness, or of dullness and stupor after a meal is a sure sign of over-eating, so whatever and whenever you eat, eat slowly, masticate your food well, and DO NOT ...
— How To Behave: A Pocket Manual Of Republican Etiquette, And Guide To Correct Personal Habits • Samuel R Wells

... the low character of many of its clergy, but he had recovered from this. Though timid and cautious to a fault, like Erasmus, and sometimes open to the charge of time-serving, he gradually led his pupils into new paths of inquiry, until they came to believe that the Church not only may err, but that it had actually erred ...
— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

... it need hardly be said, depend upon the cause, but as it is generally caused by the presence in the intestine of some irritating matter, we can hardly err by administering a small dose of castor oil, combining with it, if there be much pain—which you can tell by the animal's countenance—from 5 to 20 or 30 drops of laudanum, or of the solution of the muriate of morphia. This in itself will often suffice ...
— Dogs and All About Them • Robert Leighton

... example to us, in all this, is our beloved Lord! Surely, if He, "God only wise"—the Self-existent One, to whom "all power was committed;"—the Sinless One, never liable to err, on whom "the Spirit was poured without measure"—if He manifested such habitual dependence on His heavenly Father, how earnestly ought we, weak, erring, fallible creatures, to seek to live every hour—every moment—as pensioners on God's grace and love, ...
— The Mind of Jesus • John R. Macduff

... places whose thresholds he would never otherwise have crossed; then followed depravity, disease, and an untimely death. Who was responsible for this? The unharmed girls with whom he danced. Surely a word to the wise is sufficient. If dancing causes my brother to err, I will ...
— Fifteen Years With The Outcast • Mrs. Florence (Mother) Roberts

... you err. Chaste as she is, she would as soon give up Her honour, as betray me to the king: I tell thee, she's the character of heaven; Such an habitual over-womanly goodness, She dazzles, walks mere angel upon earth. But ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden

... concealment, he places matters in such a light that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err, ...
— The Underground Railroad • William Still

... was it not a contradictory voice? Did it not traverse the letter which he had sworn to uphold and declare? What if the voice were the voice of God? No! It could not be. God spoke in His Book. It was plain. Wayfaring men might read, and fools had no need to err. But was God's voice for ever hushed? Had He had no message since the seal was fixed to the Canon of Scripture? What if that which he heard was one of those messages concerning which Christ said, 'I have ...
— Lancashire Idylls (1898) • Marshall Mather

... Oxley wrote, DESERT; unfitted ever to sustain settlement, and in doing this he did not err more glaringly than many later pioneers. It must be borne in mind that the characteristics of the inland plain were all new to the travellers who first ventured to enter its confines. They had not won the key of the desert; the fashion in which nature adapted herself to climatic decrees was a ...
— The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 • Ernest Favenc

... support and nourish you all. I think of my ancestors (who are now) the spiritual sovereigns.... Were I to err in my government, and remain long here, my high sovereign (the founder of our dynasty) would send down on me great punishment for my crime, and say, "Why do you oppress my people?" If you, the myriads of the people, do not attend to the perpetuation of your lives, and ...
— Death—and After? • Annie Besant

... reasoning, and therefore worthy of being exposed and overthrown. Dr Johnson was not often utterly wrong in his mature and considerate judgments respecting any subject of paramount importance to the virtue and happiness of mankind. He was a good and wise being; but sometimes he did grievously err; and never more so than in his vain endeavour to exclude from the province of poetry its noblest, highest, and holiest domain. Shut the gates of Heaven against Poetry, and her flights along this earth will be feebler and lower,—her ...
— Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 • John Wilson

... err; 'Thy will be done,' Be full submission mine; Subjected to Thy will alone, My will ...
— Religion in Earnest - A Memorial of Mrs. Mary Lyth, of York • John Lyth

... "You err, O King. I, Zikali, smelt out the House of Masapo. Then I smelt out the poison, searching for it first in the hair of Mameena, and finding it in the kaross of Masapo. I never smelt out that it was Masapo who gave the poison. That was the judgment of you and of ...
— Child of Storm • H. Rider Haggard

... notes on a lecture, there are two extremes that present themselves, to take exceedingly full notes or to take almost no notes. One can err in either direction. True, on first thought, entire stenographic reports of lectures appear desirable, but second thought will show that they may be dispensed with, not only without loss, but with much gain. The most obvious objection is that too ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson

... so,' replied Josephine, removing his hand—'but you greatly err. The fact is, my appearance is naturally very effeminate, and sometimes it is my whim to encourage the belief that I am a female. I came here to-night, resolved to produce that impression; and you see with what a successful result—you yourself imagined me to be ...
— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn

... another. The particular characters, the habits, the cant of one company, may give merit to a word, or a gesture, which would have none at all if divested of those accidental circumstances. Here people very commonly err; and fond of something that has entertained them in one company, and in certain circumstances, repeat it with emphasis in another, where it is either insipid, or, it may be, offensive, by being ill-timed ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield

... the three was a moral idiot, which was it: — Adams or Godkin or Cameron? Until a Council or a Pope or a Congress or the newspapers or a popular election has decided a question of doubtful morality, individuals are apt to err, especially when putting money into their own pockets; but in democracies, the majority alone gives law. To any one who knew the relative popularity of Cameron and Godkin, the idea of a popular vote between them seemed excessively ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams

... to the doom that shall not err,— Which hath most dread: the arouse of all or each; All kindreds of all nations of all speech, Or one by one of him and him and her? While dust reanimate begins to stir Here, there, beyond, beyond, reach beyond ...
— Poems • Christina G. Rossetti

... facts often speak of Freemasonry as an evolution from Guild-masonry, but that is to err. They were never at any time united or the same, though working almost side by side through several centuries. Free-masons existed in large numbers long before any city guild of Masons was formed, and even after the Guilds ...
— The Builders - A Story and Study of Masonry • Joseph Fort Newton

... our religious notions, as you must know, the Roman pontiff is the vicar of Christ, and infallible; he can never err. The atheists of the National Convention and the Theophilanthropists of the Directory not only denied his demi-divinity, but transformed him into a satyr; and in pretending to tear the veil of superstition, annihilated all belief in a God. The ignorant part of our nation, which, as everywhere ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... man dies every time that he is bereft of his kin. Man is loaned, not given to life. The best strife is rivalry in benignity. Nothing is pleasing unless renewed by variety. Bad is the plan which cannot be altered. Less often would you err if you knew how much you don't know. He who shows clemency always comes out victorious. He who respects his oath succeeds in everything. Where old age is at ...
— Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero • W. Warde Fowler

... enemy to retire or fight upon ground of your own choosing. After the repulse of Hood at Franklin, it looks to me that instead of falling back to Nashville we should have taken the offensive against the enemy where he was. At this distance, however, I may err as to the best method of dealing with the enemy. You will now suffer incalculable injury upon your railroads if Hood is not speedily disposed of. Put forth therefore every possible exertion to attain ...
— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant

... too much room to notice all the unauthorized statements of Mr. Wesley on this subject. We have said enough to show how the most conscientious and best-intentioned man may err on theological subjects, and what need young Christians have to be somewhat critical and careful in adopting and testing their religious opinions. There are other sermons of Wesley which are as much at variance with Scripture as the one ...
— Modern Skepticism: A Journey Through the Land of Doubt and Back Again - A Life Story • Joseph Barker

... sequence of phenomena. Unquestionably the progress of civilisation owes much to the sustained efforts of such men, and if of late years and within our own memory the pace of progress has sensibly quickened, we shall perhaps not err in supposing that some part at least of the acceleration may be accounted for by an increase in the number ...
— The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) • Sir James George Frazer

... Basil Randolph, alongside his portiere, as but the observer, the raisonneur, in this narrative? If so, you err. What!—you may ask,—a rival, a ...
— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller

... implies ignorance; according to Prov. 14:22: "They err, that work evil." If, therefore, ignorance causes involuntariness, it would follow that every sin is involuntary: which is opposed to the saying of Augustine, that "every sin is voluntary" (De Vera ...
— Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) - From the Complete American Edition • Saint Thomas Aquinas

... and shortly afterwards gave the Premiership into your hands. The distinguished services you had previously rendered to the Fatherland in the most varied and important positions justified me in conferring on you this highest post. The history of the last quarter of a century proves that I did not err in my choice! ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. X. • Kuno Francke

... consequently took pleasure for his chiefest good, because all the rest seemed to delight the mind. But I return to the careful thoughts of men, whose minds, though obscured, yet seek after the greatest good, but like a drunken man know not the way home. For seem they to err who endeavour to want nothing? But nothing can cause happiness so much as the plentiful possession of all that is good, needing the help of none, but is sufficient of itself. Or do they err who take that which is best to be likewise ...
— The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy • Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

... to Obedience, truly, it was beyond measure safer to err by excess than by defect. Obedience is our universal duty and destiny; wherein whoso will not bend must break: too early and too thoroughly we cannot be trained to know that Would, in this world of ours, is as mere zero to Should, and for most part as the smallest of fractions even to Shall. ...
— Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History • Thomas Carlyle

... limitations has not as yet been so clearly observed. The laws governing our social life are not so clearly understood as to permit of a clear generalization. Still, the opinions, pleas, and judgments of society serve as boundaries which are none the less real for being intangible. When men or women err—that is, pass out from the sphere in which they are accustomed to move—it is not as if the bird had intruded itself into the water, or the wild animal into the haunts of man. Annihilation is not the immediate result. People may do no more than elevate their eyebrows in astonishment, ...
— Jennie Gerhardt - A Novel • Theodore Dreiser

... quoted Isa. 35:8,9,10: "And a highway shall be there, and a Way; and it shall be called The Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with ...
— Paula the Waldensian • Eva Lecomte

... show me that I err in premises or conclusion, I am ready to give up these as I would any other theories. But at any rate you will do me the justice to believe that I have not reached my conclusions without the care befitting the momentous nature of the ...
— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 1 • Leonard Huxley

... mention me so I excuse Your ignorance. And yet your suit you lose. Come, ladies, come, draw close while we confer, The instruments of Justice must not err. ...
— The Belles of Canterbury - A Chaucer Tale Out of School • Anna Bird Stewart

... the shipping interests, the anti-machine members undertook to simplify the language of the sections in dispute, so that a wayfaring man though a Judge on the bench or a machine legislator need not err in the ...
— Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909 • Franklin Hichborn

... be necessary to point out his faults, it should be observed that most of them are those of the age and of his profession. To both may be charged the vulgarity and lewdness of some of his representations; which, however, err in this respect far less than the writings ...
— English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History - Designed as a Manual of Instruction • Henry Coppee

... shyness which you observe in him in social life has given him in matters of business an apologetic air. He has always fancied that he needed to apologize; and this—in conjunction with his 'Maximes,' which do not err on the side of too much faith in virtue, and with his practice, which has always been to wind up business as impatiently as he started it—makes me conclude that he would have done much better to know himself, and to be content ...
— Three French Moralists and The Gallantry of France • Edmund Gosse

... Gladstone was able to present many interesting and permanently valuable pictures of the political and social life of Homeric Greece, while the interspersed literary criticisms are often subtle and suggestive, erring, when they do err, chiefly through what may be called the over-earnestness of his mind. He sometimes takes the poet too seriously; he is apt to read an ethical purpose into descriptive or dramatic touches which are merely descriptive or dramatic. But he has for his author not only that intense sympathy which ...
— William Ewart Gladstone • James Bryce

... heale their wounds, My mildnesse hath allay'd their swelling griefes, My mercie dry'd their water-flowing teares. I haue not been desirous of their wealth, Nor much opprest them with great Subsidies, Nor forward of reuenge, though they much err'd. Then why should they loue Edward more then me? No Exeter, these Graces challenge Grace: And when the Lyon fawnes vpon the Lambe, The Lambe will ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... with a galling chain? While the Old World is struggling to be free, America! shall this foul charge be laid to thee? We all may err; may oft ...
— Town and Country, or, Life at Home and Abroad • John S. Adams

... deceive himself, Or cry, "I'm safe, he can say naught of me." I charge him that he err not, and forbear To urge me farther; for I've more, much more, Which now shall be o'erlook'd, but shall be known, If he pursue ...
— The Comedies of Terence • Publius Terentius Afer

... manor to a favourite lady, named Cristina, probably a handsome lass, of the same complexion as his mother; thus we err when we say William gave all the land in the kingdom to his followers—some little was ...
— An History of Birmingham (1783) • William Hutton

... arms against Germany in any case, carrying out a long-cherished plan formed by the Government of which Sir Edward Grey was, for this matter, the responsible member. He does not see—- though it is so plain that a wayfaring man though a professional satirist should not err therein—that what the Secretary intended to do—what, in fact, he did do—was to refuse to put a price on British perfidy, to accept any "bargain" ...
— New York Times, Current History, Vol 1, Issue 1 - From the Beginning to March, 1915 With Index • Various

... Very impressive were her short petitions to the Father of mercies, for his support and deliverance, accompanied as they constantly were with the addition, "if consistent with thy will." She remarked, "I am in the hands of an unerring Creator, He cannot err. We must not look to ourselves, but to our Saviour, who loved us and gave himself for us—even for me, the most unworthy of his creatures. He healeth all my diseases, and I have many, but my mercies outweigh them all." Love and interest for her friends seemed often to dwell ...
— The Annual Monitor for 1851 • Anonymous

... of the difficulty of observing this rule, if you give heed to the next counsel which I have now to give, and that is, that you economize carefully your time in school. On this point some excellent and conscientious pupils occasionally err. They are very faithful in home preparation; very attentive at lectures; very industrious in discharging any set duty. But they have not yet learned the true secret of all economy, whether of time, money, ...
— In the School-Room - Chapters in the Philosophy of Education • John S. Hart

... hissing up, and thus exclaimed: "It strikes me, ma'am, there's small occasion For your just uttered proclamation; These gifts of yours shine rather dim, Since neither like the trout you swim, Nor like the deer, step swift and light, Nor match the eagle in your flight." They err who think that merit clings To knowledge slight of many things; He who his fellows would excel, Whate'er he does ...
— The Talking Beasts • Various

... relations of engineers to contractors there is many a snare and pitfall for the unwary feet of the beginner. In superintending the construction of work the engineer may err on the side of unreasonable strictness or on that of improper leniency. If so disposed, he can involve any contractor in loss and do him great wrong, but it more often happens that the engineer is forced to assume a defensive attitude and to resist influences too strong for a man of average ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 530, February 27, 1886 • Various

... help regarding the presence of this latter lady in Limbert's life as the major complication: whatever he attempted it appeared given to him to achieve as best he could in the mere margin of the space in which she swung her petticoats. I may err in the belief that she practically lived on him, for though it was not in him to follow adequately Mrs. Highmore's counsel there were exasperated confessions he never made, scanty domestic curtains he rattled on their rings. I may exaggerate in the retrospect his apparent anxieties, ...
— Embarrassments • Henry James

... as one thinks both the Keeper and Under-Keeper should disdain to seek out, to deliver to any man. Haply some plays may be worthy the keeping—but hardly one in forty.... This is my opinion, wherein if I err I shall err with infinite others; and the more I think upon it, the more it doth distaste me that such kinds of books should be vouchsafed room in so noble ...
— In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays • Augustine Birrell

... unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain: God is His own interpreter, And He will ...
— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman

... man will err; mere man will err—but you are something more. There have been wise men; but they were such as you, men who consulted the stars, and were observers of omens. Solomon was wise, but how?—by his judgment in astrology. So says Pineda in his third ...
— Love for Love • William Congreve

... Pray Heaven I answer right. [Aside. —Madam, if I have err'd in that belief, To know I do so, is sufficient punishment. —Lovers, Madam, though they have no returns, Like sinking Men, still catch at all they meet with; And whilst they live, though in the midst of Storms, Because they wish, ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn - Volume IV. • Aphra Behn

... I may err. The gust had passed some seconds before I caught myself detecting this peculiar note, and trying to disengage it from the natural chords of the storm. From the next gust it was absent; and then, to my dismay, the light faded ...
— I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... thirsty land springs of water.* * * And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those. The way-faring men, though fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow ...
— Darkest India - A Supplement to General Booth's "In Darkest England, and the Way Out" • Commissioner Booth-Tucker

... reader must therefore prepare himself to hear, at any rate, of some thumping faults; and although I do not deserve, and do not expect, to escape the deep censure of some, yet I rely upon the liberal indulgence of the more virtuous portion of the community, who know that it is the lot of man to err, but that it is godlike to make allowances for human infirmities, and to forgive them. And, after relating all my errors, I shall boldly say, in the language of our Saviour, "Let him that is without fault ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1 • Henry Hunt

... a poor compliment to pay twice over! But it is human to err, and in my anxiety not to do so on the side of sentiment I own myself in danger of flying to the other extreme. Well, you know which is the common extreme in such cases; and at all events we shall avoid the usual ...
— The Shadow of the Rope • E. W. Hornung

... my bosom on all this; If ever man by bonds of gratefulness— I raised him from the puddle of the gutter, I made him porcelain from the clay of the city— Thought that I knew him, err'd thro' love of him, Hoped, were he chosen archbishop, Church and Crown, Two sisters gliding in an equal dance, Two rivers gently flowing side by side— But no! The bird that moults sings the same song again, ...
— Becket and other plays • Alfred Lord Tennyson

... everything connected with it, the Sullan constitution is involved in that condemnation."[60] We have to admit that the salt had gone out from it, and that there was no longer left any savor by which it could be preserved. But the German historian seems to err somewhat in this, as have also some modern English historians, that they have not sufficiently seen that the men of the day had not the means of knowing all that they, the historians, know. Sulla and his Senate thought that by massacring the Marian faction they had restored ...
— Life of Cicero - Volume One • Anthony Trollope

... Young's morality in the early part of his life may, perhaps, be wrong; but Tindal could not err in his opinion of Young's warmth and ability in the cause of religion. Tindal used to spend much of his time at All Souls. "The other boys," said the atheist, "I can always answer, because I always know whence they have their arguments, which ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson

... denies that evil is real. He is asked why, then, evil seems to exist. He replies that this is our finite error. The finite error itself hereupon becomes, as the source of all our woes, an evil. But no evil is real, hence no error can be real, hence we do not really err even if we suppose that evil is real. Here we return to our starting point and could only hope to escape by asserting that it is an error to assert that we really err or that we really believe error to be real, and with a ...
— Modern Religious Cults and Movements • Gaius Glenn Atkins

... it, "take for granted that they are acquainted with everything." The passage about conscience contains, as Taylor observes, a dogma which is only to be found implicitly maintained in the Scholia of Olympiodorus on the First Alkibiades of Plato. Olympiodorus says that we shall not err if we call "the allotted daemon conscience;" on which subject he has some further remarks. This doctrine of the sameness of conscience and the internal daemon seems to be that of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus (ii. ...
— Plutarch's Lives, Volume II • Aubrey Stewart & George Long

... Romans created a fleet which was a match for the Carthaginians. Those err, who represent this building of a Roman fleet as a fairy tale, and besides they miss their aim; the feat must be understood in order to be admired. The construction of a fleet by the Romans was in very truth a noble national work—a work through which, by their clear perception ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... be so. I know not of what metal those women can have been. For the rest, you err in thinking 'twas your letter to my mother that aroused my soul's hatred and bitterness against you. It ...
— Henrik Ibsen's Prose Dramas Vol III. • Henrik Ibsen

... elevated views of life bridged the chasm that separates the ancient from the Christian state, and led the way to freedom. Seeing how little security there is that the laws of any land shall be wise or just, and that the unanimous will of a people and the assent of nations are liable to err, the Stoics looked beyond those narrow barriers, and above those inferior sanctions, for the principles that ought to regulate the lives of men and the existence of society. They made it known that there is a will superior to the collective will of man, and a law that overrules ...
— The History of Freedom • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

... err, of course; but it would be a troublesome thing to be stopping every minute or two, to look at your compass, which must have time to become steady, you will remember, or it would become a guide that ...
— Satanstoe • James Fenimore Cooper

... 'You err,' remarked Suleyman, with dignity. 'Your error has its root in the conviction that a thief is evil. He may be evil as an individual; all men are apt to be who strive for gain; but as a member of a corporation he has pride and ...
— Oriental Encounters - Palestine and Syria, 1894-6 • Marmaduke Pickthall

... not these hard words to come To that fond mother's heart, Who through such years of agony Had kept her loving part. Her wildest wish was granted— Her deepest prayer was heard— Yet it but served to show her How deeply she had err'd. The mysteries of God's high will May not be understood; And mortals may not vainly ask, To them, what seemeth good. With spirit wrung to earth, In grief she bowed her head: "Oh! better far than meet ...
— Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick • Mrs. F. Beavan

... favor of the Indians solely by the humanity of Isabella. As the venerable bishop Las Casas observes, where the most learned men have doubted, it is not surprising that an unlearned mariner should err. ...
— The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II) • Washington Irving

... of the offender?" interrupted Wilder, with earnestness and haste. "He is often blundering, but rarely would he err, had he ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper

... Madame, you've triumph'd, and my son is kill'd! Ah, but what room have I for fear! How justly Suspicion racks me that in blaming him I err'd! But he is dead; accept your victim; Rightly or wrongly slain, let your heart leap For joy. My eyes shall be for ever blind: Since you accuse him, I'll believe him guilty. His death affords me cause enough for tears, Without ...
— Phaedra • Jean Baptiste Racine

... words, Tai-y laughed. "O-mi-to-fu!" she exclaimed. "You are indeed my very good cousin! But you've also (to Pao-y) come across your match. And this makes it clear that requital and retribution never fail or err." ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... toward the bottled grape My errant fancy fondly turns, Remember, jeering jackanape, I err ...
— Tobogganing On Parnassus • Franklin P. Adams

... not of thy train; there be who faith Prefer, and piety to God, though then To thee not visible when I alone Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent From all: my Sect thou seest; now learn too late How few sometimes may know when thousands err. ...
— Milton • Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

... age and size, but should proceed to work the crop as soon as the plants are clearly out of the ground, and have put forth one or two branches. Any practical farmer who knows how to plow and weed young corn, will not be likely to err very far in working a crop of peanuts. The operation is simple enough, the two points being to clear away the grass and make the soil fine and loose around the plants. Any plan of working that will secure these ends, ...
— The Peanut Plant - Its Cultivation And Uses • B. W. Jones

... history an example of divine terrors and judgment, that we may take warning from the danger of Ham, and not venture to be rash in judging, though we should see that a secular or ecclesiastical authority, or even our parents, do err and fall." ...
— Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, v. 1 • Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

... exists in the country; that a police force is now more generally established, and is incomparably more vigilant than heretofore; that crimes are classified in a different way from what they formerly were; and that though the figures do not err, yet the results to which they point are not the real ones. There is some truth in these observations. It is true that a police force is more extensively established, and is more efficient than it ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 343, May 1844 • Various

... the press:) Who rapt by zeal beyond her sex's bounds, 25 With actual cautery staunched the Church's wounds! And tho' he deems, that with too broad a blur We damn the French and Irish massacre, Yet blames them both—and thinks the Pope might err! What think you now? Boots it with spear and shield 30 Against such gentle foes to take the field Whose beckoning hands ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... is disposed to repent of the injury he has done his niece, and make atonement for it, I should, by all means, advise her to follow the course which, I am sure, her gentle nature suggests. 'To err is human; to forgive, divine.' The lady is a Christian, and will act in the true spirit ...
— Hatchie, the Guardian Slave; or, The Heiress of Bellevue • Warren T. Ashton

... very wise That, often having seen thee foolish since, Wonder has made me faint that thou shouldst err. ...
— Georgian Poetry 1911-12 • Various

... stood aside to wait the event, Not dare to watch the combat, only breathe Short fits of prayer, at every stroke a breath. And he, she dreaded most, bare down upon him. Aim'd at the helm, his lance err'd; but Geraint's, A little in the late encounter strain'd, Struck thro' the bulky bandit's corselet home, And then brake short, and down his enemy roll'd, And there lay still; as he that tells the tale Saw once a great piece of a promontory, That had a sapling growing on it, slide From the long shore-cliff's ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5 • Charles Sylvester

... which effect their object by individual injury, I should disdain to offer a defence, which could be accomplished only by confounding the principles of right and wrong. But here is an instance in which the noblest mind might err, in which the highest sagacity might be perplexed, in which the most self-denying virtue might discover nothing but a voluntary sacrifice." The problem before his client was "the proudest that had ever occupied ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 356, June, 1845 • Various

... are terms merely comparative; and we err in our estimation of things, because we measure them by some wrong standard. The trifler proposes to himself only to equal or excel some other trifler, and is happy or miserable as he succeeds or miscarries: the man of sedentary desire and unactive ambition sits comparing his ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume IV: The Adventurer; The Idler • Samuel Johnson

... should have been taken to mark out the limits of ecclesiastical authority, and to show that the power of ministers and elders was as distinctly limited by the laws of Christ as that of kings and magistrates ought to be by the laws of the land; or, in other words, that ministers and elders may err in interpreting the laws of Christ, just as civil rulers may err in interpreting the laws of the land. No doubt the limitation contended for is in words admitted, "the magistrat neither aucht to preich, minister the sacraments, nor execute the censuris ...
— The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics • Alexander F. Mitchell

... times to be true, and is not in any instance known to be false, if we at once affirm that fact as a universal truth or law of nature, without either testing it by any of the four methods of induction, or deducing it from other known laws, we shall in general err grossly; but we are perfectly justified in affirming it as an empirical law, true within certain limits of time, place, and circumstance, provided the number of coincidences be greater than can with any probability ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... I err. She came once, but in anger. Impatient of my importunity she brought with her an avenging dream. By the clock of St. Jean Baptiste, that dream remained scarce fifteen minutes—a brief space, but sufficing to wring my whole frame with unknown ...
— Villette • Charlotte Bronte

... Perhaps we slightly err if we think of Christ's assumption of human nature as, in any respect, an incongruous act of humiliation. For man was made in the image of God; so that when Christ was made flesh, without sin, he took ...
— Catharine • Nehemiah Adams

... for God, he says, from him comes nothing but good. Do not fancy anything else. 'Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should ...
— Town and Country Sermons • Charles Kingsley

... that the heaven's throne Is placed above the skies, and there do feign The gods and all the heavenly powers to reign, They err, and but deceive themselves alone. Heaven (unless you think mo be than one) Is here in earth, and by the pleasant side Of famous Thames at Greenwich court doth 'bide. And as for other heaven is there none. There are the goddesses we honour so: There Pallas sits: there shineth Venus' face: Bright ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) • Various

... Often we err in the use of each particle, Seldom observe where our adverbs belong, Wholly misplace the indefinite article, In our subjunctives ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 21, 1893 • Various

... 546; bias &c (misjudgment) 481; misleading &c v.. V. be erroneous &c adj.. cause error; mislead, misguide; lead astray, lead into error; beguile, misinform &c (misteach) 538 [Obs.]; delude; give a false impression, give a false idea; falsify, misstate; deceive &c 545; lie &c 544. err; be in error &c adj., be mistaken &c v.; be deceived &c (duped) 547; mistake, receive a false impression, deceive oneself; fall into error, lie under error, labor under an error &c n.; be in the wrong, blunder; misapprehend, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... north to south, comprehends, on a rough calculation, upwards of twenty thousand square miles, and is frequented at present by about one hundred and twenty Indian hunters. Of these a few have several wives, but the majority only one; and, as some are unmarried, we shall not err greatly in considering the number of married women as only slightly exceeding that of the hunters. The women marry very young, have a custom of suckling their children for several years, and are besides exposed constantly ...
— Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 1 • John Franklin

... wanderers and prodigals and black sheep, little though you may believe it, appreciate family union and social ties much more than your steady-going respectables who never stray without the routine circle of upright existence; never err; are never ...
— She and I, Volume 2 - A Love Story. A Life History. • John Conroy Hutcheson

... very true one, but, like other proverbs, it applies to the multitude. If I get into mischief, it will not be because I don't perspire for so many hours every day, but simply because it is human to err. I have no intention whatever ...
— The Odd Women • George Gissing

... to err by concentrating its attention upon one evil, namely inequality of wealth, which it believes to be at the bottom of all others. I do not believe any one evil can be thus isolated, but if I had to select one as the greatest of political ...
— The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism • Bertrand Russell

... something even despotic about it. He seemed aware that nothing could oppose his will; possibly because he willed only that which was right. Nevertheless, he was, like all really strong men, gentle in speech, simple in manner, and naturally kind." Certainly Balzac, as usual, did not err on the ...
— Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings • Mary F. Sandars

... Nature's plan Rise the reflective faculties of Man! Labour to Rest the thinking Few prefer! Know but to mourn! and reason but to err!— In Eden's groves, the cradle of the world, Bloom'd a fair tree with mystic flowers unfurl'd; 450 On bending branches, as aloft it sprung, Forbid to taste, the fruit of KNOWLEDGE hung; Flow'd with sweet Innocence the tranquil hours, And Love and Beauty ...
— The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society - A Poem, with Philosophical Notes • Erasmus Darwin

... not to the same degree, for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately effective, and ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... moment.—Whether I err in my judgment of him could be proved only by time; but I know that if I were free, if I ...
— Born in Exile • George Gissing

... rod, Wad gie' ye mony a lash an' prod, But aye ye went the rantin' road, An prone tae err, You sair misca'd douce men ...
— Verses and Rhymes by the way • Nora Pembroke

... Therefore the young man, Marshall Wace, coming as a seasonable diversion from these extremely personal piercings and probings, found greater favour in her eyes than he otherwise might. And this with results, for Damaris' gratitude, once engaged, disdained to criticize, invariably tending to err on ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet

... my rhyming be at fault, If e'er I chance to scribble dope, If that my metre ever halt, I err in company with Pope. ...
— Tobogganing On Parnassus • Franklin P. Adams

... their power. In architecture the rococo style is an example of this excess. While all expressions of exuberant life and energy, of charm and grace depend on curved lines for their effect, yet in their most refined and beautiful expression they err on the side of the square forms rather than the circle. When the uncontrolled use of curves approaching the circle and volute are indulged in, unrestrained by the steadying influence of any straight lines, the effect is gross. The finest curves are ...
— The Practice and Science Of Drawing • Harold Speed

... human to err," the Friar replied, "and Cazaio would have given me a thousand crowns for your head. Believe me, the man is meditating some horrible mischief against you, for otherwise he would not have been so ...
— Gallantry - Dizain des Fetes Galantes • James Branch Cabell

... the richer in the end. In her agony she learns to reckon clearly. Fair as the coin may have been, it was not accurate; and though she knew it not, there were treasures that it could not buy. The face, however beloved, was mortal, and as liable as the soul herself to err. We do but shift responsibility by making a standard ...
— The Longest Journey • E. M. Forster

... of the States to the National Government must be carefully considered,—not too boldly, not too timidly,—in order to see in what way, or by what process, the transition from Rebel forms may be most surely accomplished. If I do not greatly err, it will be found that the powers of Congress, which have thus far been so effective in raising armies and in supplying moneys, will be important, if not essential, in fixing the conditions of perpetual peace. But there is one point on which there can be no question. The dogma and delusion of ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, No. 72, October, 1863 • Various

... point the draft included the words "The whole People will not probably mistake their own true Interests, nor err in their Judgment of the Men to whom they may safely ...
— The Original Writings of Samuel Adams, Volume 4 • Samuel Adams

... of these interesting young denizens of two worlds are so well known that it is perhaps unnecessary caution or superfluous gallantry to conceal them; but I will err, if error it be, on the safe side, and call No. 1 Miss C. and No. 2 Miss S., premising only that each is decidedly attractive, with the unquestioned advantage of having seen only some sixteen or seventeen summers apiece. Miss C. has been 'out' some time; her familiar ...
— Mystic London: - or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis • Charles Maurice Davies

... Anyone who has made frequent blood examinations will have observed that in this respect extraordinary variations occur. In some cases scarcely a drop of blood can be obtained, while in others the blood flows freely. One will not err in assuming in the former case a diminution of the quantity ...
— Histology of the Blood - Normal and Pathological • Paul Ehrlich

... a divine prerogative to know just how far to temper justice with mercy," Denham answered. "I suppose none of us can hope to attain to perfect knowledge; but if there must be error, I would for myself rather err in excess of mercy ...
— Only an Incident • Grace Denio Litchfield

... or wrongly dissatisfied; business is built only on satisfied customers. Therefore the question is not to prove who is right but to satisfy the customer. This doctrine has its limitations, but it is safer to err in the way of doing too much than in ...
— How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) - A Complete Guide to Correct Business and Personal Correspondence • Mary Owens Crowther

... is not infallible: it may err, like any other human judgment. A man may be blind, if not exactly to his own action, at least to the motives and circumstances of his action. He may have got hold of a wrong general principle of conduct. He may be in error as to the application of his principle to the actual facts. In all ...
— Moral Philosophy • Joseph Rickaby, S. J.

... chapel she had registered a solemn vow that she would one day be Norbert's wife. But she did not acquaint her parents with this determination on her part, preferring to carry out her plans without any aid or advice. Mademoiselle Diana was shrewd and practical, and not likely to err from want of judgment. The frank and open expression of her features concealed a mind of superior calibre, and one which well knew how to weigh the advantages of social rank and position. She affected a sudden sympathy with the poor, and visited them constantly, and ...
— The Champdoce Mystery • Emile Gaboriau

... faithful friend and God, Establish us for ever! And when we err from wisdom's road Give penitence and favour! Turn Thou our hearts again to Thee, May all our works establish'd be, Crown all ...
— Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs - Translated by John Kelly • Paul Gerhardt

... larger part of his life, was "Butler's Analogy," which was first published in the very year in which he was born. It is possible that even during these years of his early manhood he had begun his enduring intimacy with that robust book. Moreover, we can hardly err in saying that he had then also become a steady reader of the English Bible, the diction of which is stamped upon his style as unmistakably as it is upon that of the ...
— Patrick Henry • Moses Coit Tyler

... heart; thou thoughtest that thy home was decked with all the flowers of childhood, and of that purest, deepest love which had grown upon the graves of thy beloved, and that here it was good to live and to build houses. Even if thou didst err, and hast had bitterly to mourn thy error, it is nothing to my purpose, and thou thyself wilt not like to dwell on the sad recollection. But recall those unspeakably sweet feelings, that angelic greeting of peace, and thou wilt be able to understand what was the happiness of the knight ...
— Undine - I • Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

... everything, everything without exception, which I have myself, would it then still be a mere empty representation, or not rather a true reduplication of myself? When I believe that I recognise in God a familiar reduplication, I perhaps do not so much err, as that my language is insufficient for my ideas: and so much at least for ever incontrovertible, that they who wish to make the idea thereof popular for comprehension, could scarcely have expressed themselves more intelligibly and suitably ...
— Literary and Philosophical Essays • Various

... news printed depends upon a pre-apprehension of all this. Some papers, which nevertheless print all the news, are always a day behind, do not appreciate the popular drift till it has gone to something else, and err as much by clinging to a subject after it is dead as by not taking it up before it was fairly born. The public craves eagerly for only one thing at a time, and soon wearies of that; and it is to the newspaper's profit to seize the exact point of a ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... was, that he was in too great haste to accomplish his own will. This is apt to be the error of the young. They are sanguine of success, and they rush into the battle of life without waiting to put on the armor of faith. What the young want in setting out, Tom, is a Guide and a Helper, who cannot err, and will not forsake them. An old man in our town used to say, 'Never try to kick open the door of Providence.' I want you, Tom, to wait patiently till Providence opens the door for you. Then you need not ...
— The Cabin on the Prairie • C. H. (Charles Henry) Pearson

... achieved naught." No man reverenced womankind more than the Master; in this, as in so much, his life became a model to mine, and his dear daughter profited by the lesson her father had taught me. We err grievously in disesteeming our women: they should be our comrades not our slaves, and our soul-ascensions—to speak figuratively—should be made in their ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... returned. "It is always better to err on the side of distrust. Besides, I wished to spend a night on your ship in any case. Your crew can be thoroughly depended on, if I ...
— The International Spy - Being the Secret History of the Russo-Japanese War • Allen Upward



Words linked to "Err" :   slip up, fall for, wander, go, roam, tramp, travel, stumble, cast, range, swan, misremember, errant, ramble, rove, roll, move, locomote, trip up, vagabond, misjudge



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