Literary notes about impulse (AI summary)
In literature, the word "impulse" is deployed as a multifaceted concept that captures both fleeting, spontaneous emotions and forces that drive broader historical or social changes. In narrative fiction, it often marks the moment when characters act on a sudden internal drive—whether toward love, rebellion, or violence ([1],[2],[3])—while in psychological and philosophical texts it serves as a mechanism to explore the tension between instinct and reflection, highlighting the ways in which raw, natural drives may conflict with conscious decision making ([4],[5],[6]). At times, the term also underpins the portrayal of collective energy or transformation, suggesting that a powerful, dynamic current can shape historical movements or social changes ([7],[8],[9]).
- It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - After standing there a long time, impelled by a sudden impulse of impatience, I started off.
— from Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup - A sudden impulse came over him to enter, and see if they were indeed the proofs.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - The oral impulse becomes auto-erotic , just as the anal and other erogenous impulses are from the very beginning.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - “If so,” he said to himself, “I ought to think it over and make up my mind, and not give way like a boy to the impulse of a moment.”
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - Reason expresses purpose, purpose expresses impulse, and impulse expresses a natural body with self-equilibrating powers.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - The Swedish immigration received a new impulse in 1852; it was five thousand in 1868; it reached its climax of 64,607 in 1882.
— from A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States by George T. Flom - When a violent revolution occurs amongst a highly civilized people, it cannot fail to give a sudden impulse to their feelings and their opinions.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - Out of this milling process a collective impulse is formed which dominates all members of the crowd.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
