Literary notes about Alienate (AI summary)
The word "alienate" is used in literature to express both the literal transfer of property and a figurative sense of estrangement. It often appears in discussions of legal or economic rights, where it signifies the act of transferring ownership or rights, as when lands or estates must not be alienated without proper sanction ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, the term also conveys emotional or social separation—highlighting how relationships, loyalties, or even collective affection can be eroded. Authors use it to depict scenarios ranging from personal betrayal to the distancing of communities and nations ([4], [5], [6]). Even philosophical and ethical discourses invoke "alienate" to discuss the loss of inherent freedoms and the distancing from one’s natural state ([7], [8]).
- It is God's, i.e. it is the Church's; and no one,—no, not even the Pope,—dare alienate a single acre of it.
— from Pilgrimage from the Alps to the TiberOr The Influence of Romanism on Trade, Justice, and Knowledge by James Aitken Wylie - Charles immediately issued an edict, which was confirmed by the provincial Parliament of Brittany, forbidding him to alienate his paternal estates.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - It ought not to be in the power of Congress, either by treaty or otherwise, to alienate part of any state without the consent of the legislature.
— from Essays on the Constitution of the United States Published during its Discussion by the People, 1787-1788 - Could they drive a wedge between us by showing that we were a fair-weather friend whom any stress would alienate.
— from The German War by Arthur Conan Doyle - He was so convinced of my crime that all my denials only served to alienate his pity.
— from Mauprat by George Sand - O alienate from God, O Spirit accursed, Forsaken of all good!
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - It is not freedom, to be allowed to alienate his freedom.
— from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill - Even if each man could alienate himself, he could not alienate his children: they are born men and free; their liberty belongs to them, and no one
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
