Literary notes about Exaggerate (AI summary)
The term “exaggerate” has been deftly employed by authors across genres to convey nuances in overstatement or distortion. In literary works, it often serves as both a caution and a descriptive tool: Dumas and his collaborators advise restraint in expressing responsibilities and emotions, as seen in admonitions not to “exaggerate your duty” [1] or to manipulate the depiction of character flaws and virtues [2], [3]. At times, it becomes a subtle critique of inflated claims or overly dramatic portrayals—whether it is in the context of personal importance or the embellishment of events [4], [5], [6]. In discussions of etiquette and aesthetics, writers warn against exaggerating capacities or traits in favor of maintaining sincerity and balance [7], [8]. Meanwhile, in more analytical or philosophical texts, the act of exaggeration is dissected as part of the human tendency to overstate or modify truths, be it in narratives, psychological accounts, or historical assessments [9], [10]. Through these varied applications, “exaggerate” underscores an enduring literary concern with the boundary between genuine expression and the artifice of embellishment.
- Do not exaggerate your duty.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “Impostor,” repeated Villefort; “certainly, madame, you appear to extenuate some cases, and exaggerate others.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “My dear,” said Madame de Villefort, who had just entered the room, “perhaps you exaggerate the evil.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - But I ought only to observe; you exaggerate my importance.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - "What feeling I had on that occasion, Monsieur—and pardon me, if I say, you immensely exaggerate both its quality and quantity—was quite abstract.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - [493] We exaggerate the praises of local scenery.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - It is right to cultivate a laudable ambition, but do not exaggerate your capacity.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - But good manners are good manners everywhere, except that in Latin and Asiatic countries we must, as it seems to us, exaggerate politeness.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Of course, we do not wish to exaggerate the importance of the fact that the poet did make use of a slip to express his meaning.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - It is quite true that children tend to exaggerate their powers of execution and to select projects that are beyond them.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
