Literary notes about act (AI summary)
The term "act" functions in literature as a multifaceted signifier of action, intention, and performance. It can denote the routine execution of everyday behavior or, conversely, a deliberate gesture loaded with moral and philosophical weight [1, 2]. Authors employ it to emphasize the decisive moment when latent intentions transform into observable deeds, whether in the realm of personal conduct, political maneuvering, or dramatic artistry [3, 4, 5]. In philosophical discourses and legal treatises alike, "act" bridges the inner realm of motive with its external manifestation, prompting deeper consideration of accountability and virtue [6, 7]. Even in narratives where structure and ritual are central, the word encapsulates both the mechanical and the meaningful, underscoring the enduring complexity of human agency [8, 9, 10, 11].
- As a rule, people who act lead the most commonplace lives.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - You persist; then I ask to share in this act of folly, and I even insist on it.”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valor As thou art in desire?
— from Macbeth by William Shakespeare - The first act informed me, that a court martial is to be held on a Count Vatron, who had drawn his sword on the Colonel, his brother-in-law.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - “Trust no future, howe’er pleasant, Let the dead past bury its dead; Act, act in the living present, Heart within, and God o’erhead.”
— from The Harvest of a Quiet Eye: Leisure Thoughts for Busy Lives by John Richard Vernon - An act, it is true, imports intention in a certain sense.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - Again, to act virtuously is merely to act under the guidance of reason (IV.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - The poor Swiss know not how to act: one duty only is clear to them, that of standing by their post; and they will perform that.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Or that passion to act a part that sometimes makes us do things finer than we are ourselves?
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - “There is nothing,” said he, “but the act of Tasso which cannot pass at court: you must write another.”
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - In general, this question will be determined by considering the degree of danger attending the act or conduct under the known circumstances.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes
