Literary notes about decent (AI summary)
Writers deploy the term "decent" to evoke qualities of propriety, respectability, and moral worth in varied contexts. In some works, it serves as a moral yardstick, indicating behavior that adheres to accepted ethical standards—as seen when actions are deemed intentionally indifferent yet ostensibly proper ([1]) or when a man is described as embodying a respectable character ([2], [3]). In other contexts, the word underscores conventional social decorum, be it in personal appearance, habits, or even architecture, where a modest dwelling or neat attire signifies adherence to societal norms ([4], [5], [6]). Interestingly, "decent" also carries a tone of irony when applied to unexpected or inadequate circumstances, hinting at a gap between idealized behavior and reality ([7], [8]). Overall, authors use "decent" both as a commendation of upright conduct and as a critical marker of social expectations.
- And in all really decent actions are we not intentionally indifferent as to what result they will bring?
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - And not only at the present time owing to some casual circumstances, but always, at all times, a decent man is bound to be a coward and a slave.
— from White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - And I belong to the church, and play enough golf to keep in trim, and I only associate with good decent fellows.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - Now I adore you because you're not only as beautiful as a dream but as decent as a man."
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim - This decent common-place dwelling was not what I had expected.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - He was dressed all in decent black, with a white cravat round his neck.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - To come out of nothing, going nowheres, and run into a dirty Indian who says: 'By Jove, that's the first decent cup of tea I've had in ten years!'
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - Instead of writing all kinds of things about decent people in the papers, you had better try to behave yourself more conformably!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
