Literary notes about Surpass (AI summary)
In literature, the word "surpass" is employed to indicate an exceptional degree of excellence or superiority that goes beyond ordinary limits. Authors use it to compare qualities such as beauty, strength, and influence, as when a character's charms or accomplishments are deemed unsurpassable [1][2], or when nature itself is described as having an unrivaled form [3]. It can also reflect an inner striving for continual improvement, suggesting that one must always "surpass itself" in order to reach higher ideals [4][5][6]. This versatile term effectively conveys both the benchmark of excellence and the ongoing human endeavor to exceed established standards [7][8].
- The daughters of Col. Lloyd could scarcely surpass her in personal charms.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - "Oh! certainly," cried his faithful assistant, "no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Nothing can surpass in beauty the form, or the glossy, vivid green of the leaves of the tulip-tree.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - “Behold,” said she, “I am that WHICH MUST EVER SURPASS ITSELF.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Your Will and your feet which seek to surpass you—let these be your new honour!
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Surpass thyself even in thy neighbour: and a right which thou canst seize upon, shalt thou not allow to be given thee!
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Then fell on Polydore his vengeful rage, 268 The youngest hope of Priam's stooping age: (Whose feet for swiftness in the race surpass'd:)
— from The Iliad by Homer - However, it is to be recorded that Paris, thanks to an august National Assembly, did, on this seeming doomsday, surpass itself.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
