Literary notes about Instrument (AI summary)
The term "instrument" is deployed with remarkable versatility, serving both literal and metaphorical functions throughout literature. In some works it denotes physical devices—a musical instrument producing rich, expressive sounds [1], or a precise surgical tool designed for exacting tasks [2]—while in others it symbolizes an agent or means to achieve a broader purpose, such as an instrument of moral law or social reform [3, 4, 5]. The word also frequently conveys ideas of control and expression, describing characters as embodiments or channels of power, destiny, or artistic ability [6, 7, 8]. This dual capacity to refer to tangible implements and to evoke abstract notions illustrates the layered connotations that writers often harness for thematic or symbolic impact.
- Outside this range, a wind instrument is more notable for richness of colour than for expression.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - A cylindrical instrument case is adherent to it.
— from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne - P. 377: "I can and dare take thought for myself, solely because, and is so far as I am, an instrument of the Moral Law ."
— from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer - P. 342: "I am only an instrument, a mere tool of the Moral Law, not in any sense an end.
— from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer - To bind the defendant by a contract, an instrument under seal was essential.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - He has obtained an absolute command over his instrument of expression.
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - It expressed, plainer than words could do, the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - These Yakshas and Rakshasas had already been slain by Destiny: thy brother hath been the instrument merely.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
