Passion for power: the wicked gadfly which is mounted on the vainest peoples; the scorner of all uncertain virtue; which rideth on every horse and on every pride.

He merely turned his head backward, to the right, then to the left, balancing it as a bull does who has been stung in the flanks by a gadfly .

To see Porthos hungry, to see Mousqueton without gold lace, imprisoned, perhaps; to see Pierrefonds, Bracieux, razed to the very stones, dishonored even to the timber, - these were so many poignant griefs for D'Artagnan, and every time that one of these griefs struck him, he bounded like a horse at the sting of a gadfly beneath the vaults of foliage where he has sought shady shelter from the burning sun.

He is desirous that they should let him live--not for his own sake, but for theirs; because he is their heaven-sent friend (and they will never have such another), or, as he may be ludicrously described, he is the gadfly who stirs the generous steed into motion.

They fled to the other end of the court like a herd of cattle maddened by the gadfly in early summer when the days are at their longest.

And also the soul which is under a tyrant (I am speaking of the soul taken as a whole) is least capable of doing what she desires; there is a gadfly which goads her, and she is full of trouble and remorse?

Local legend says Peggy Gadfly 's is named after a one-legged high diver who would entertain crowds coming off the New Brighton ferry in the early 20th Century.

Described as "Womanist, public intellectual, scholar, political gadfly , transgressive teacher, activist, and a black woman of wisdom and fortitude" by editors Davidson (African and African American studies, U.

Michael Moore's "Sicko," the gadfly helmer's healthcare expose, is alive, well, and almost ready for release.

JUDICIAL WATCH, A gadfly legal organization founded by the colorful Larry Klayman, became famous for hounding former President Bill Clinton with lawsuit after lawsuit.

But it's quite possible that Theo Kamasinski, the legal reform advocate and non-lawyer -- who's frequently described as a " gadfly " in the scores of articles written about his appearances before various state courts on behalf of people who claim unfair treatment by the courts -- has a more likely explanation.