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.
- 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 - 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 - “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 - 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 - "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 - I used to be in the government service, but am no longer.
— from White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - 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 - 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 - The service and the singing in church that morning passed unnoticed by her.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - We should give our leisure to service and the arts.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - 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