Literary notes about limits (AI summary)
In literature, the term "limits" serves as a versatile metaphor that can denote both physical and conceptual boundaries. Historical writings, such as those by Gibbon and Jefferson, use it to delineate territorial, legal, or administrative boundaries—as seen when provinces or civic responsibilities are circumscribed in space or power [1], [2]. At the same time, literary and philosophical works invoke "limits" to explore the confines of human perception, creativity, and even moral tolerance, suggesting that while our senses and understanding might be bounded [3], our imagination often strives to transcend these borders [4], [5]. This duality is further highlighted in philosophical debates about societal authority versus individual liberty [6] and in poetic expressions where love or ambition seeks to overcome defined restrictions [7]. Thus, through varied contexts—from legal and geographical demarcations to the abstract domains of thought and emotion—writers use "limits" to both restrict and challenge the scope of human experience.
- The civil and ecclesiastical ministers had transgressed the limits of their respective provinces.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Others were required to give a pledge, with security, to reside within prescribed limits.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - How narrow are the limits which confine the bodily sight, and how little can be seen by the eye of the soul.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - Yet these are the very ones who dare to set limits to the vision of those who, lacking a sense or two, have will, soul, passion, imagination.
— from The World I Live In by Helen Keller - Buddhism came with a set of visible symbols which should attract the eye and fire the imagination, and within ethical limits, the passions also.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis - OF THE LIMITS TO THE AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL.
— from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill - With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do, that dares love attempt.
— from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
