Literary notes about Laudable (AI summary)
The term "laudable" is often deployed to highlight actions, intentions, or character traits that are worthy of praise or moral approval. In literature it serves as a qualifier for virtues—as in discussions of civic purpose or patriotism where ambitions are held up as exemplary [1], [2]—while also sometimes entering ironic territory when characters assess dubious means against seemingly noble ends [3]. Moreover, authors employ the term to invite readers to weigh the intrinsic merit of behavior, whether it be a sincere desire for improvement or simply the outward appearance of commendability [4], [5].
- In a word, no great improvement or laudable enterprise can go forward which requires the auspices of a steady system of national policy.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming, but what Nature it self should prompt us to think so.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Moreover, how can a good man avoid referring all his actions and all his feelings to the one standard of whether or not it is laudable?
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero - He first starved, and then tricked me; and if I could I’d kill him.’ ‘All right, and very laudable,’ said Squeers.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - What is wanting among Women, as well as among Men, is the Love of laudable Things, and not to rest only in the Forbearance of such as are Reproachful.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
