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Literary notes about Skill (AI summary)

In literature, the term "skill" is deployed to evoke a broad spectrum of human ability, ranging from physical prowess in battle to refined artistic or intellectual mastery. It is often used to dramatize martial or athletic competence, as when feats of swordsmanship or military aptitude are highlighted ([1], [2], [3], [4]), and yet the word also conveys the delicate precision of craftsmanship and creative construction in fields like architecture and music ([5], [6], [7]). Moreover, "skill" sometimes functions as a metaphor for the learned or inherent quality that separates mere effort from exceptional achievement—in one instance, even suggesting that overcoming a challenge requires a special kind of finesse ([8], [9], [10]). In this way, whether denoting the artistry behind a domestic craft or the subtle command of social nuance ([11], [12]), "skill" consistently emerges in literature as a versatile marker of discipline, talent, and resourcefulness, underscoring both individual accomplishment and the broader cultural appreciation of human capability.
  1. Only what one has always felt about the masters is, that it's a fair trial of skill and last between us and them—like a match at football or a battle.
    — from Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
  2. “No; for your skill with the sword is so well known.”
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  3. And Æsculapius left Epidaurus for Rome, that in this foremost city he might have a finer field for the exercise of his great medical skill.
    — from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
  4. Luffing to the wind, he passed to windward of his chief, chose his position with skill, and atoned by his death for his first fault.
    — from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan
  5. In the handling and cutting of stone the Greeks displayed a surpassing skill and delicacy.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  6. As for his skill and ingenuity as a builder, they may be seen from what follows.
    — from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio
  7. With huge delight he tried his skill, And ducks and drakes made with a will, Of golden coins which mortals seem To think of mortal goods the cream.
    — from The Fables of La Fontaine by Jean de La Fontaine
  8. [136] Id est , which we cannot dissever from the idea of a creative skill capable of producing them.
    — from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant
  9. C Certainly, the same principle holds; but why does this involve any particular skill?
    — from The Republic of Plato by Plato
  10. Words look so different on paper and the subject is so difficult, so delicate, so dangerous that it requires infinite skill to tackle it.
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  11. He praised her skill with the needle, her voice that could “sing the savageness out of a bear,” her wit, her sweetness, the fairness of her skin.
    — from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit and William Shakespeare
  12. Minute after minute slipped away, while the ladies, with imperfect skill, discussed the subject of reinsurance or praised their anonymous friend.
    — from Howards End by E. M. Forster

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