Literary notes about Infirmity (AI summary)
In literature, the term "infirmity" has been employed as a multifaceted metaphor reflecting both physical weakness and moral or intellectual deficiency. Authors such as Kipling use it to characterize innate traits or vulnerabilities—sometimes even gendered predispositions, as seen in his depiction of women’s infirmity [1]—while philosophers like Marcus Aurelius and Montaigne invoke the term to mediate reflections on the transient and flawed nature of material existence [2, 3]. At the same time, writers like Emerson and Jane Austen extend its meaning to include shortcomings of will or spirit, suggesting that human frailty encompasses more than mere physical decay [4, 5]. This varied usage underscores the enduring appeal of "infirmity" as a concept that captures the essential vulnerability of human nature, whether manifested in bodily decline, emotional frailty, or moral imperfections.
- 'Women talk,' said the lama at last, 'but that is a woman's infirmity.
— from Kim by Rudyard Kipling - Think of the shortness of life, of the eternities before and after, and of the infirmity of all material things.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - We are to judge with more reverence, and with greater acknowledgment of our own ignorance and infirmity, of the infinite power of nature.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne - Discontent is the want of self-reliance; it is infirmity of will.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?" "Infirmity!" said Elinor, "do you call Colonel Brandon infirm?
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
