Literary notes about Goodness (AI summary)
In literature, "goodness" is a multifaceted term that spans themes from moral virtue and divine benevolence to everyday expressions of courtesy and exclamation. Authors often invoke the word to underscore an inherent moral quality or a beneficent nature—as seen when it elevates a character’s admirable attributes and actions [1, 2, 3]—while in other contexts it becomes a courteous appeal, urging compliance or gently chiding behavior [4, 5, 6]. At times it functions simply as an interjection of surprise or dismay, imbuing dialogue with natural, conversational emotion [7, 8, 9]. This diversity in usage reflects both the abstract ideal of goodness and its concrete manifestations in interpersonal interactions, allowing writers to explore and celebrate human, divine, or societal virtues throughout their works [10, 11, 12].
- O my dear friend, how can I enumerate the benefits that I have received from your goodness?
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve - Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake, And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - And if we are right in understanding that this goodness is the Holy Spirit, then the whole Trinity is revealed to us in the creation.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - ,’ said Mr. Pickwick, ‘have the goodness to step downstairs.’
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Have the goodness—please, sir, to let go!
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - “Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure.”
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - “My goodness,” cried young Branghton, rudely looking over me, “only think of that Lord’s coming all this way!
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney - My goodness, what a face you have on at this moment!” Indeed, Gania did not look in the least like himself.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - cried he; 'My goodness, Triangle, what would they say to it in Ohio .
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - Poor honest lord, brought low by his own heart, Undone by goodness!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Wherefore it pleaseth Him that we seek Him and worship through means, understanding that He is the Goodness of all.
— from Revelations of Divine Love - He lays its foundation in a firm belief and an unshaken confidence in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God.
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey
