Literary notes about Exacting (AI summary)
In literature, the word "exacting" is employed to convey a sense of rigorous demand and precision that can describe both actions and character traits. It is often used to illustrate the imposition of strict obligations or tributes, as when a ruler collects dues or demands homage [1, 2, 3, 4]. At the same time, it characterizes individuals whose behavior or expectations are exceptionally demanding, as seen in discussions of both personal virtue and institutional rigidity [5, 6, 7, 8]. Authors also use it to comment on the standards in art, etiquette, or social expectations, suggesting that even the finest details are not spared from meticulous scrutiny [9, 10, 11, 12]. Overall, "exacting" underscores the tension between high expectations and the burdens they impose, whether on the individual or society at large [13, 14, 15, 16].
- exacting dues from ships sailing into the Pontus.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius - without stealing even a sheep, a fowl, or a bunch of grapes, without exacting from their landlords, either salt, or oil, or wood.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - "How can the dignity of the sovereign be preserved who employs his power in exacting heavy tributes from a people thus miserably reduced?
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 by James Tod - The rapacious ministers of Constantius had exhausted the wealth of Gaul, by exacting twenty-five pieces of gold for the annual tribute of every head.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - And I had no right, indeed, to be exacting as to that money,” she added suddenly, and there was a ring of resolution in her voice.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - But she made up for it by being more exacting and more ruthless than ever with Shatov.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - You were exacting, proud, punctilious, selfish.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - The schoolmaster, always severe, grew severer and more exacting than ever, for he wanted the school to make a good showing on “Examination” day.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain - It was an inconvenient and exacting institution, as requiring everything in the universe to be filed down and fitted to it.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - We are not only ’prentice-carpenters but ’prentice-men—a trade whose apprenticeship is longer and more exacting than the rest.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - At present we are admiring plain silver and are perhaps exacting that it be too plain?
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Funeral ceremonial was more exacting than that connected with most other observances, including those of marriage.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. Werner - After a half-hour he began to realise that the meeting must come to an end, so exacting is the world.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - Do we want to be more satisfied with ourselves, or more exacting and more inexorable?
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - Obviously it soon becomes the mightiest and most exacting of all functions, and in time tyrannises over other powers.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - Next day I shall be stern again, next day I shall be exacting again, even implacable, but they will all know what I am like.
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
