Literary notes about Caprice (AI summary)
In literature, caprice conveys a sense of unpredictable, whimsical impulse that colors both thought and action. It is often used to highlight the sudden, almost vain shifts in a character’s mind or fate, as when a creator employs it to capture the fleeting, lofty notions of thought ([1]). At times, it denotes a simple personal fancy or an inexplicable decision that alters one's course in love or life ([2], [3]), while in other contexts it reflects a broader, more disheartening quality of arbitrariness in social or political matters ([4], [5]). Moreover, authors invoke caprice to suggest that amidst calculated endeavors, there remains an undercurrent of chance that disrupts order—displayed both in artistic expression and in the natural world through unpredictable forces ([6], [7]). The multifaceted use of caprice thus enriches narratives by juxtaposing deliberate action with the thrill and peril of the unforeseen.
- His imperial muse tosses the creation like a bauble from hand to hand, and uses it to embody any caprice of thought that is upper-most in his mind.
— from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson - It was simply my caprice, as you expressed it just now, and nothing more!
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - She took the veil without any reason, physical or moral; it was a mere caprice.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - The judge should not be liable to be removed from his office according to the caprice of that power.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - Indeed, men of self-possession, reflecting upon the caprice of destiny and the fruitlessness of exertion, never suffer themselves to be depressed.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - The hoar-frost glitters: all rejoice In mother Winter's strange caprice.
— from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin - Such was the main principle; the caprice of man was only to be traced in minuter details.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville
