Literary notes about capability (AI summary)
In literature, "capability" is used as a flexible term that encompasses both intrinsic power and practical potential across diverse contexts. It may evoke images of innate intellectual or moral strength—suggesting a sort of godlike reason or inherent talent, as in the lofty language of [1] and [2]—while also appearing in more concrete settings, from assessing a boat’s ability to sail upwind ([3]) to measuring the military or technical readiness of a system ([4], [5], [6]). The word frequently functions as a bridge between abstract qualities, such as one’s capacity for self-support or moral heroism ([7], [8], [9]), and tangible skills, including scientific or artistic proficiency ([10], [11]). This dual character imbues the term with a nuanced versatility, allowing authors to comment simultaneously on nature, nurture, and the potential for growth or failure.
- Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason, To fust in us unused.
— from The World's Best Poetry, Volume 10: Poetical Quotations - Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To rust in us unus’d.
— from Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature by William Hazlitt - The capability of a boat for sailing up wind depends on her "lines" and the amount of surface she offers to the wind.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - This capability permitted Mariner to collect data when it was hidden from Earth behind a planet, and send the information when it emerged.
— from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution - We are also improving our capability to deploy U.S. military forces rapidly to distant areas.
— from State of the Union Addresses by Jimmy Carter - Transatlantic telephone circuit capability increased by 50 percent once Early Bird went into orbit on April 6, 1965.
— from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution - He loses, in an extent proportioned to the weakness or force of his original nature, the capability of self-support.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - I have not attained any lofty peak of magnanimity, nor would I trust beforehand in my capability of meeting a severe demand for moral heroism.
— from Impressions of Theophrastus Such by George Eliot - Contrariwise, whatsoever things hinder man's perfecting of his reason, and capability to enjoy the rational life, are alone called evil. VI.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - Timid as Carrie was, she was strong in capability.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - A young author’s power of accurate imitation is, after all, the primary and indispensable test of his having even the capability of becoming a poet.
— from Literary and General Lectures and Essays by Charles Kingsley
