In several of the ancient states of Greece, foreign trade was prohibited altogether; and in several others, the employments of artificers and manufacturers were considered as hurtful to the strength and agility of the human body, as rendering it incapable of those habits which their military and gymnastic exercises endeavoured to form in it, and as thereby disqualifying it, more or less, for undergoing the fatigues and encountering the dangers of war.

Strength and agility of body were of the highest consequence, and commonly determined the fate of battles.

Since the invention of fire-arms, strength and agility of body, or even extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of arms, though they are far from being of no consequence, are, however, of less consequence.

An attendant who was on foot, seeing the encamisado fall, began to abuse Don Quixote, who now moved to anger, without any more ado, laying his lance in rest charged one of the men in mourning and brought him badly wounded to the ground, and as he wheeled round upon the others the agility with which he attacked and routed them was a sight to see, for it seemed just as if wings had that instant grown upon Rocinante, so lightly and proudly did he bear himself.

As he went along, then, occupied with these thoughts, he perceived on the summit of a height that rose before their eyes a man who went springing from rock to rock and from tussock to tussock with marvellous agility.

Thus assisted, she skipped down with much agility, and began to tie her double chin into her bonnet.

Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue-coloured silk; the red is given to the next, and the green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great persons about this court who are not adorned with one of these girdles.

Here I often used to row for my own diversion, as well as that of the queen and her ladies, who thought themselves well entertained with my skill and agility.

They would often spring, and bound, and leap, with prodigious agility.

“He is usually governed by a decayed wench, or favourite footman, who are the tunnels through which all graces are conveyed, and may properly be called, in the last resort, the governors of the kingdom.” One day, in discourse, my master, having heard me mention the nobility of my country, was pleased to make me a compliment which I could not pretend to deserve: “that he was sure I must have been born of some noble family, because I far exceeded in shape, colour, and cleanliness, all the _Yahoos_ of his nation, although I seemed to fail in strength and agility, which must be imputed to my different way of living from those other brutes; and besides I was not only endowed with the faculty of speech, but likewise with some rudiments of reason, to a degree that, with all his acquaintance, I passed for a prodigy.” He made me observe, “that among the _Houyhnhnms_, the white, the sorrel, and the iron-gray, were not so exactly shaped as the bay, the dapple-gray, and the black; nor born with equal talents of mind, or a capacity to improve them; and therefore continued always in the condition of servants, without ever aspiring to match out of their own race, which in that country would be reckoned monstrous and unnatural.” I made his honour my most humble acknowledgments for the good opinion he was pleased to conceive of me, but assured him at the same time, “that my birth was of the lower sort, having been born of plain honest parents, who were just able to give me a tolerable education; that nobility, among us, was altogether a different thing from the idea he had of it; that our young noblemen are bred from their childhood in idleness and luxury; that, as soon as years will permit, they consume their vigour, and contract odious diseases among lewd females; and when their fortunes are almost ruined, they marry some woman of mean birth, disagreeable person, and unsound constitution (merely for the sake of money), whom they hate and despise.

He said, “he had been very seriously considering my whole story, as far as it related both to myself and my country; that he looked upon us as a sort of animals, to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use, than by its assistance, to aggravate our natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given us; that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had bestowed; had been very successful in multiplying our original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain endeavours to supply them by our own inventions; that, as to myself, it was manifest I had neither the strength nor agility of a common _Yahoo_; that I walked infirmly on my hinder feet; had found out a contrivance to make my claws of no use or defence, and to remove the hair from my chin, which was intended as a shelter from the sun and the weather: lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb trees like my brethren,” as he called them, “the _Yahoos_ in his country.

Four times a year the youth of a certain district meet to show their proficiency in running and leaping, and other feats of strength and agility; where the victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise.

The question to be debated was, “whether the _Yahoos_ should be exterminated from the face of the earth?” One of the members for the affirmative offered several arguments of great strength and weight, alleging, “that as the _Yahoos_ were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced, so they were the most restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious; they would privately suck the teats of the _Houyhnhnms’_ cows, kill and devour their cats, trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continually watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies.” He took notice of a general tradition, “that _Yahoos_ had not been always in their country; but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain; whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these _Yahoos_ engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole nation; that the _Houyhnhnms_, to get rid of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and destroying the elder, every _Houyhnhnm_ kept two young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught and carriage; that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could not be _yinhniamshy_ (or _aborigines_ of the land), because of the violent hatred the _Houyhnhnms_, as well as all other animals, bore them, which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree if they had been _aborigines_, or else they would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the _Yahoos_, had, very imprudently, neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other in agility of body, and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the _Yahoos_.” Several others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when my master proposed an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the hint from me.

She has above-average strength, speed, agility, and reflexes.

In the 1960s, the limited agility of American fighters in dogfights over Vietnam led to a revival of dedicated Air superiority fighters, which led the development of the "Teen Series" F-14, F-15, F-16 and F/A-18.

In the water, Musk Ducks display an effortless agility, twisting and turning on the surface with both feet and tail.

This is due to his skill, quick feet and agility.

The Tiger has the distinction of being the first all-composite helicopter developed in Europe; and incorporates other advanced features such as a glass cockpit, stealth technology and high agility in order to increase its survivability.

Amongst the Tiger's notable qualities, it possesses very high levels of agility, much of which is attributed to the design of its 13-meter four-bladed hingeless main rotor; the Tiger can perform full loops and negative "g" manoeuvres.

According to Andrew Warner, the Tiger's survivability "relies on stealth and agility".

She later becomes fast friends with Poison Ivy, who injects her with an antitoxin which gives her super-human strength, agility, and immunity to toxins.

Zenon Kitowski also collaborates with various chamber ensembles and while his playing captivates with agility and ease, his rich and warm tone combined with incredible control which affords him with the superior skills needed to express full dynamic and emotional range of any orchestral or soloist work.

A single-speed assist mechanism which is slowed down to prevent oscillation is then restrictive on the agility of the wearer.

Mime shows require agility and swift physical movement and that’s becoming difficult for me,” he says.

"His leg side keeping was on occasions as superlative as his nimble footed agility was amazing.

In combat, Thieves rely primarily on their agility - they have relatively few hit points and their attacks don't deal a lot of damage; however, thanks to their agility, they are able to dodge most enemy attacks and deliver a lot of blows at the same time.

Jagodowski performs weekly in Chicago in a variety of improv programs, but most notably in "T.J. and Dave" with David Pasquesi, which the "Chicago Reader" has described as "an hour of subtle character development, verbal facility, and pantomimic agility that anticipates and plays off the audience's reactions."

Volstagg's speed, stamina, and agility are now inferior to that of the majority of his race.

Sproles is known by the nickname "Lightning Bug" due to his speed, agility, short stature and the fact the Chargers uniform is adorned with lightning bolts.

Light-class mechs are the opposite, favoring speed and agility.

The Rynax also give her special abilities, such as amazing strength and agility, and the ability to fly, pass through solid objects and generate enough radiation to disintegrate objects instantly.

Maximus Lobo is a lycanthrope able to assume a werewolf form with superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, reflexes, hyper-keen senses, and razor sharp claws and fangs.

Noted in the Kung Fu community for his achievement of exceptional personal flexibility, Zink also emphasized flexibility training in his martial arts classes as a method to develop agility, power and endurance.

He possesses great agility for a man of his size.

She joined the Laguna Beach Fire Department, she began weight training in order to pass the physical agility test in 1994.

Signe has developed a unique off-ice program for figure skaters - "Figure Skater Bootcamp" - that entails cardio, agility and strength training, while incorporating off – ice jumping.

Agile Leadership is associated with mode four leaders (Modes of Leadership) who have the ability (and agility) to operate in any mode (system of thinking) and most importantly see from the perspectives of the other modes.

It is this ability to think in a number of different ways that gives such leaders their agility.

While Choctaw Hogs kept in confinement can become very tame, some may be "amazed at the speed and agility of Choctaw hogs."

A sufficient number of bulls each judged to be of good strength, health, agility, and age, are selected to perform.

For the bull, judges look at the animal's overall agility, power and speed; its back end kicks; and its front end drops.

Here they work out with athletic trainers and competed in a series of speed, strength and agility tests.