Literary notes about despicable (AI summary)
The term despicable frequently appears in literary works as a powerful descriptor for actions or characteristics that violate deep moral codes. Authors such as Victor Hugo and Mark Twain use it to denounce behavior that is not merely wrong but egregiously low—invoking not only shame but also a comparative moral inferiority ([1], [2]). Philosophers and essayists similarly contrast pursuits steeped in nobility against those labeled as despicable, thus enriching discussions on virtue and vice ([3], [4], [5]). In autobiographical narratives and historical accounts, the word serves to underscore personal or collective degradation, highlighting conduct that betrays ethical integrity ([6], [7], [8]). This layered usage enables writers to project a spectrum of moral judgment, marking the despicable as emblematic of society’s baseline for inexcusable behavior.
- No task was any longer considered despicable.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - I felt meaner, and lowlier and more despicable than the worms.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - The antithesis “good and bad” to this first class means the same as “noble” and “despicable.”
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - It is upon such reasoning that revolutions are based.—To bewail one's lot is always despicable: it is always the outcome of weakness.
— from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist by Nietzsche - And, if each and all of them is despicable, proceed to the last that remains, to follow reason and God.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - The governor had, without changing my skin a single shade, made the place respectable which before was despicable.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - I don't know a fellow more intrinsically despicable.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - I am the very poorest of Thy servants, an abject worm, much poorer and more despicable than I know or dare to say.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas
