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Literary notes about Foolhardy (AI summary)

The term "foolhardy" appears in literary works as a descriptor for actions or characters marked by rashness and imprudence. It is often employed to highlight a daring yet unwise endeavor, whether referring to venturesome exploits on dangerous fronts, as when someone challenges fate without due caution [1] or embarks on a perilous journey in a fragile vessel [2]. In other contexts, the word underscores the blend of audacity and recklessness evident in characters who undertake risky feats, such as cutting a ship loose amid heavy danger [3] or even engaging in conversations that suggest a person’s unbalanced temperament [4]. Thus, "foolhardy" serves as a versatile term to characterize acts, decisions, or dispositions that border on the irrational through overzealous bravery.
  1. After all it was a foolhardy challenge he had thrown to fate.
    — from The Sorceress of Rome by Nathan Gallizier
  2. When we had embarked on the leaping, boiling, muddy Athabaska, in this frail canoe, it had seemed a foolhardy enterprise.
    — from The Arctic Prairies : a Canoe-Journey of 2,000 Miles in Search of the Caribou; Being the Account of a Voyage to the Region North of Aylemer Lake by Ernest Thompson Seton
  3. Ten to one, if I were so foolhardy as to cut the Hispaniola from her anchor, I and the coracle would be knocked clean out of the water.
    — from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
  4. I find my tongue is too foolhardy; but my heart hath the fear of Mars before it, and of his creatures, not daring the reports of my tongue.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

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