Literary notes about Incompatible (AI summary)
In literature, the term "incompatible" is frequently employed to underscore conflicts, contradictions, or mutually exclusive qualities between ideas, characters, or systems. Authors use it to denote that two elements, though they might coexist in a broader context, cannot be reconciled without compromise. For instance, it can emphasize contrasts in human nature or social institutions, as when sentiments clash with established authority [1] or when distinct ethical and aesthetic qualities are seen as irreconcilable [2], [3]. In another vein, the word serves to articulate intellectual dilemmas—such as balancing rational thought against emotional impulse [4]—thus highlighting the inherent tensions within complex ideas and the human experience [5], [6].
- I thought this sentiment so incompatible with the establishment of any system of check on Mary Anne, that I frowned a little.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - And here, again I begin by admiring an aggregate made up of excellences and triumphs, ordinarily deemed incompatible.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - Sensual pleasure and moral rectitude incompatible.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero - The comic, we said, appeals to the intelligence, pure and simple; laughter is incompatible with emotion.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - Thought, therefore, and extension are qualities wholly incompatible, and never can incorporate together into one subject.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - If utility is the ultimate source of moral obligations, utility may be invoked to decide between them when their demands are incompatible.
— from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
