[…] no composer or dramatic poet has ever pretended to be able to perform all the parts he writes for the singers, actors and players who are his executants. One might as well expect Napoleon to be a fencer, or the Astronomer Royal to know how many beans make five any better than his bookkeeper.

In general, those life events taking place early off-time have greater negative impact than those taking place late off-time.

[an eagle] purging and unscaling her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance

Being so inflexible, the railway was easy prey to road competition, and the arrival of unregulated lorry transport from farm fields to town centres quickly captured all locally generated business.