All 35 Uses of
motive
in
The Brothers Karamazov
- All the others would come from frivolous motives, perhaps insulting to the elder.†
Chpt 1motives = reasons for doing something
- As soon as signs of decomposition had begun to appear, the whole aspect of the monks betrayed their secret motives in entering the cell.†
Chpt 7
- Would you consent to explain what motives precisely led you to such a sentiment of hatred for your parent?†
Chpt 9 *
- Couldn't you, without abandoning your resolution to be silent about the chief point, could you not, at the same time, give us some slight hint as to the nature of the motives which are strong enough to induce you to refuse to answer, at a crisis so full of danger to you?†
Chpt 9
- He told the story without going into motives or details.†
Chpt 9
- "He is guilty, but he will be acquitted, from motives of humanity, in accordance with the new ideas, the new sentiments that had come into fashion," and so on, and so on.†
Chpt 12
- People said afterwards that he was actuated by unworthy motives in his criticism of Ivan, because the latter had on one or two occasions got the better of him in argument, and Ippolit Kirillovitch, remembering it, tried now to take his revenge.†
Chpt 12
- The same lady, bathed in tears of long-concealed indignation, alleged that he, he of all men, had despised her for her action, which, though incautious, reckless perhaps, was still dictated by lofty and generous motives.†
Chpt 12
- People would have suspected first the man who had a motive, a man who had himself declared he had such motives, who had made no secret of it; they would, in fact, have suspected the son of the murdered man, Dmitri Fyodorovitch.†
Chpt 12
- It would be interesting to know what motives could have induced the two accomplices to form such an insane plan.†
Chpt 12
- Fyodor Pavlovitch was all his life fond of acting, of suddenly playing an unexpected part, sometimes without any motive for doing so, and even to his own direct disadvantage, as, for instance, in the present case.†
Chpt 1
- He always has some motive.†
Chpt 2
- Your brother Ivan writes theological articles in joke, for some idiotic, unknown motive of his own, though he's an atheist, and he admits it's a fraud himself—that's your brother Ivan.†
Chpt 2
- Alyosha felt that his brother had taken the first step towards him, and that he had certainly done this with some definite motive.†
Chpt 3
- Do you think she kissed Grushenka's hand first, on purpose, with a motive?†
Chpt 3
- Do not think my question frivolous; on the contrary, I have in asking the question a secret motive of my own, which I will perhaps explain to you later on, if it is God's will that we should become more intimately acquainted.†
Chpt 6
- Besides, what motive had he for murdering the old man?†
Chpt 9
- What was your motive for making such a secret of it?†
Chpt 9
- "Yes, of course!" cried Mitya, striking himself on the forehead; "forgive me, I'm worrying you, and am not explaining the chief point, or you'd understand in a minute, for it's just the motive of it that's the disgrace!†
Chpt 9
- Habit is the great motive-power.†
Chpt 10
- Scarcely more than an hour before, I suggested gold mines to him, and here they talk of 'middle-aged charms' as though that were my motive!†
Chpt 11
- I lead you to belief and disbelief by turns, and I have my motive in it.†
Chpt 11
- The object of the prisoner's continual and violent anger was not the sum itself; there was a special motive at the bottom of it.†
Chpt 12
- That motive is jealousy!†
Chpt 12
- But, if it were on purpose, the question arises at once, what was his motive?†
Chpt 12
- That may be so, but answer me one question: what motive had he for such a counterfeit?†
Chpt 12
- But not having a shadow of the motive that the prisoner had for the murder—hatred, jealousy, and so on—Smerdyakov could only have murdered him for the sake of gain, in order to appropriate the three thousand roubles he had seen his master put in the envelope.†
Chpt 12
- Even if he had been accused of the murder, it could only have been thought that he had committed it from some other motive.†
Chpt 12
- But since no one had observed any such motive in him beforehand, and every one saw, on the contrary, that his master was fond of him and honored him with his confidence, he would, of course, have been the last to be suspected.†
Chpt 12
- People would have suspected first the man who had a motive, a man who had himself declared he had such motives, who had made no secret of it; they would, in fact, have suspected the son of the murdered man, Dmitri Fyodorovitch.†
Chpt 12
- Any other feeling, any other motive would be unnatural.†
Chpt 12
- He looked as though he was in a fever, he spoke of the blood that cried for vengeance, the blood of the father murdered by his son, with the base motive of robbery!†
Chpt 12
- I will not touch on it either, but will only venture to observe that if a lofty and high-principled person, such as that highly respected young lady unquestionably is, if such a person, I say, allows herself suddenly in court to contradict her first statement, with the obvious motive of ruining the prisoner, it is clear that this evidence has been given not impartially, not coolly.†
Chpt 12
- The talented prosecutor, with extraordinary subtlety, sketched for us all the arguments for and against the hypothesis of Smerdyakov's guilt, and asked us in particular what motive he had in feigning a fit.†
Chpt 12
- Getting out of bed, he goes almost unconsciously and with no definite motive towards the sound to see what's the matter.†
Chpt 12
Definitions:
-
(1)
(motive as in: What is her motive?) a reason for doing something
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, motive can refer to something that causes motion in an inanimate object. Even less commonly, it can refer to a distinctive feature in music, art, or literature.