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Literary notes about Service (AI summary)

In literature, the term "service" is employed in a variety of ways that reveal both its practical and symbolic dimensions. At times it denotes direct assistance or duty, as when a character offers help with a personal touch [1] or agrees to render assistance in return for a favor [2][3]. In other passages, "service" represents structured obligations—whether military discipline [4][5], governmental employment [6][7], or the formal performance of ritual and religious practices [8][9]. Additionally, it can imply the broader notion of devoted labor in art, science, or communal affairs [10][11]. Such varied uses enrich narratives through a layered portrayal of social, professional, and spiritual engagements.
  1. If I can be of service to you in any way," he said, giving me his card, "that's where I live.
    — from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  2. Aramis reflected for a minute, and then said, coloring, “Will it be really rendering you a service, d’Artagnan?”
    — from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  3. “I am sorry for that,” said d’Artagnan; “for as I am in great haste likewise, I wish to beg you to render me a service.”
    — from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  4. As we are walking along, I tell him,— “My good man, I would like to have in my service twenty-four fellows like these under military discipline.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  5. "Died on Friday the 16th instant, James O'Hara, long an inhabitant of this Town, and formerly a soldier in His Majesty's service.
    — from Toronto of Old by Henry Scadding
  6. I used to be in the government service, but am no longer.
    — from White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  7. G. B. Ramusio was born at Treviso in 1485, and early entered the public service.
    — from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano
  8. He whispered to Lebedeff that this was the first time he had ever heard a Russian funeral service since he was a little boy.
    — from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  9. The service and the singing in church that morning passed unnoticed by her.
    — from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
  10. We should give our leisure to service and the arts.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  11. Let me do it in a spirit of service to mankind.
    — from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

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