Literary notes about guileless (AI summary)
In literature, the term "guileless" is often employed to evoke a sense of pure, unadulterated innocence and straightforward honesty. It characterizes characters who, much like a naïve child with an unclouded view of the world ([1]), embody an artless candor and open-hearted trust ([2]). At times, authors use the word to contrast such unpretentious sincerity with a hardened or cynical environment, thereby highlighting vulnerability and the inherent beauty of unspoiled nature ([3], [4]). In other instances, it underscores a simplicity of thought and a lack of pretension in both demeanor and motive, reinforcing a character's transparency and inner virtue ([5], [6], [7]).
- How many an evil desire, how many an unkind thought, has been quenched at its very birth by the pure, open gaze of a guileless child!
— from General Bounce; Or, The Lady and the Locusts by G. J. (George John) Whyte-Melville - Open, candid, artless, guileless, with affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise.”
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - Her guileless face, her appealing eyes, seemed to beseech the protection of a masculine shield in a world which has no mercy for the weak.
— from The Moon Rock by Arthur J. (Arthur John) Rees - It was plain to ear and eye that the witness was guileless and impartial.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Can we wonder that they should readily win a heart young, guileless, and susceptible?
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - I am glad to think there were two such guileless hearts at Peggotty’s marriage as little Em’ly’s and mine.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - His dark eyes were guileless, with the transparency of a child's.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
