Literary notes about Damage (AI summary)
In literature, the term damage is employed in a range of ways, from denoting physical harm to expressing more abstract loss or injury. In some works, it describes tangible impairment—a broken machine, a ruined structure, or the impact of natural forces as seen when a vessel’s injury is quickly mended [1] or when a flower bed is trampled [2]. In other texts, it carries legal or moral weight, alluding to liabilities and the consequences of reckless behavior, as in discussions of trespass and neglect [3][4][5]. Even figurative usage is evident, where emotional or reputational harm is implied, and the ensuing consequences become a matter of character or fate [6][7][8].
- At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball descended inside the stockade, scattering a cloud of sand but doing no further damage.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - II Dear Mrs. Neighbor: My gardener has just told me that our chickens got into your flower beds, and did a great deal of damage.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - The immediate occasion of the damage complained of may have been a mere omission letting in the operation of natural forces.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - The Twelve Tables (451 B.C.) provided that, if an animal had done damage, either the animal was to be surrendered or the damage paid for. /6/
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - It might be assumed that trespass is founded on the defendant's having caused damage by his act, without regard to negligence.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - Remember also, that the danger of excess is not confined to any one place, and that immoderate passions always do irreparable damage.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - About it; for it stands me much upon To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - You have to do with a prisoner who gives evidence against himself, to his own damage!
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
