Literary notes about Modest (AI summary)
The term "modest" is used in literature to evoke a range of qualities, from physical reserve and simplicity to understated competence and measured expression. It can denote personal restraint and propriety, as seen when a woman's reaction to exposure is described with a sense of dignified embarrassment ([1]), or when a character is portrayed as self-possessed and unassuming ([2], [3]). In other contexts, modesty emphasizes simplicity in lifestyle or achievement, such as referring to a modest livelihood ([4]) or modest quarters ([5]). Authors also employ the word to suggest a restrained manner in speech or behavior, highlighting humility and prudence ([6], [7], [8]). Overall, "modest" functions as a versatile descriptor that enriches character development and narrative tone.
- She suddenly felt the kind of awkwardness that a modest woman would feel at being suddenly discovered naked.
— from The Bet, and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Mr. Pickwick, it is quite unnecessary to say, was one of the most modest and delicate-minded of mortals.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - The young man was about eighteen, pleasant, gentle and modest.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - He economized the modest pay of an artillery lieutenant, and, thanks to him, Ossian became an officer like Scipio.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - I wanted nothing more than to see my country again, my friends, my modest quarters by the Botanical Gardens, my dearly beloved collections!
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - for our taste inclines to the employment of more modest phrases.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - And in fine, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble: 3:9.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - My good friend, be modest; victories and defeats often arise from unknown causes, and afford no proof of the goodness or badness of institutions.
— from Laws by Plato
