Dame Fortune, like most others of the female sex, is generally most indulgent to the nimble-mettled blockheads. [ Otway ]

Imagination is a mettled horse that will break the rider's neck when a donkey would have carried him to the end of his journey, slow but sure. [ Southey ]

Those who start for human glory, like the mettled hounds of Actaeon, must pursue the game not only where there is a path, but where there is none. They must be able to simulate and dissimulate; to leap and to creep; to conquer the earth like Caesar, or to fall down and kiss it like Brutus; to throw their sword like Brennus into the trembling scale, or, like Nelson, to snatch the laurels from the doubtful hand of Victory, while she is hesitating where to bestow them. [ Colton ]