Literary notes about Sufficient (AI summary)
The term "sufficient" is employed in literature to denote a state of adequacy that meets a particular need or standard, whether in a quantitative, qualitative, or moral sense. In some works it signals a precise measure, as when a sum is just enough to conduct commerce [1] or when physical force satisfies a required threshold [2]. In others, it reflects the intellectual or emotional capabilities of a character—affirming honesty [3] or reinforcing the adequacy of one's conviction [4]. Philosophers and novelists alike use the word to indicate that what is present, or what has been done, meets the demands of the moment, whether in relation to nature’s order [5], personal resourcefulness [6], or even abstract truths about virtue and existence [7]. Such usage highlights not only the pragmatic side of sufficiency but also its symbolic role in framing human experience.
- The goods to be bought and sold being precisely the same as before, the same quantity of money will be sufficient for buying and selling them.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - He was confronted by a force sufficient to hold us back.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - “That is sufficient; I know you are telling me the truth.”
— from The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories by Mark Twain - Lowell had followed the rest, not very enthusiastically, but with sufficient conviction, and invited his scholars to join him.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - In illustration of this, it will be sufficient to refer to the treatise of Aristotle Περὶ Κόσμου , cap.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - I am a little one, but my Father ever liveth, and my Guardian is sufficient for me.
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in infirmity.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
