Literary notes about abstain (AI summary)
The term "abstain" in literature is used to denote a deliberate choice to refrain from certain actions, often carrying moral, religious, or practical significance. Authors employ it not only as a directive to avoid physical actions or indulgences—such as refraining from violence or particular foods ([1], [2], [3]), but also as a means of illustrating ethical restraint and personal purity ([4], [5]). In many works, the word is imbued with a sense of duty, whether it is a command to forgo behavior that might lead to sin or a more nuanced decision to hold back in order to uphold one’s principles ([6], [7]). This versatile usage underscores the broader thematic emphasis on self-regulation and moral conduct that is central to many literary texts.
- He therefore strictly ordered the former of these gentlemen to abstain from laying violent hands on Tom for what had past.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - They eat the flesh of animals, of those particularly which do not assist man in his labour, and abstain from hot and seasoned food.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - Both sections are Saivites, in the sense that they abstain from flesh and fish.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - They should pay respect rather to the Lord’s day, and, if possible, abstain from labour on it as Christians.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot - They shall abstain from wine, and from every thing that may make a man drunk.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Oh! if only we hated vice as much as we love life, we should abstain as easily from a pleasant sin as from a deadly poison in a delicious dish.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
