Literary notes about Congenial (AI summary)
In literature, the term congenial is used to evoke a sense of innate harmony and compatibility between people, pursuits, or environments. Authors apply the word to describe settings or company that naturally nurture a character’s disposition—as in the portrayal of kindred spirits or harmonious societies [1] [2]—while it also conveys the suitability of a climate or circumstance to one’s inner nature, seen in references to both fertile soil for growth and intellectual stimulation [3] [4]. It serves as an adjective to highlight an environment or state that is not merely pleasant but ideally tuned to the interests, temperaments, or creative impulses of individuals, a notion extended from diplomatic settings to the aesthetic domains of art and philosophy [5] [6].
- That there was something kindred in their nature, something congenial in their souls, something mysteriously sympathetic in their bosoms, was evident.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Jurgis got himself a place in a boardinghouse with some congenial friends.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - When planted in a congenial soil the little seed becomes a tree, and 'the birds of the air build their nests in the branches.'
— from Phaedrus by Plato - Art is action which transcending the body makes the world a more congenial stimulus to the soul.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - Not much argument was needed to maintain the truth of a theory which to his own contemporaries seemed so natural and congenial.
— from The Republic by Plato - In general a man can only receive his highest development in a congenial state or family, among friends or fellow-workers.
— from The Republic by Plato
