Literary notes about better (AI summary)
The term better in literature serves as a flexible tool to suggest improvement, preference, or superiority in a variety of contexts. It appears in admonitions of moral conduct ("Be angry, but sin not" [1]) and in the expression of personal aspirations to ameliorate one’s state ("All these years I've worked to make it better" [2]). Authors also employ it to compare qualities or outcomes, whether in personal reflection ("I—I didn't know any better" [3]), in practical decision-making ("You had better leave us alone then" [4]), or in proverbial wisdom ("The better part of valour is discretion" [5]). Its usage spans casual conversation, philosophical musing, and social critique, making it a uniquely adaptable word that enhances both character dialogue and narrative commentary.
- We have better oracles: “Be angry, but sin not; let not the sun go down upon your anger.”
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon - All these years I've worked to make it better.
— from Plays by Susan Glaspell - "I—I didn't know any better," said James, looking down.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - “You had better leave us alone then,” smiled Madame Merle.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
