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Literary notes about maximum (AI summary)

The word "maximum" proves to be a remarkably versatile term in literature, employed both in its literal sense of physical or numerical limits and as a metaphor for the utmost degree of qualitative or abstract attributes. In scientific and technical texts, it denotes precise upper limits—such as the maximum altitude reached by a rocket ([1]), maximum pressure in an underwater setting ([2]), or the speed and thrust of mechanical devices ([3], [4], [5], [6]). Conversely, in philosophical, political, and literary works, "maximum" conveys the idea of an ideal extreme or the most complete expression of a quality, ranging from the maximum of patriotism ([7], [8]) and moral resource ([9]) to personal risk and creative splendor ([10], [11]). This wide-ranging usage underlines the term's ability to encapsulate both measurable, empirical boundaries and the abstract zeniths of human experience and expression ([12], [13], [14]).
  1. The maximum altitude achieved was 21,800 meters (71,500 feet).
    — from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  2. "You're up to maximum pressure?"
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne
  3. The propellant burned for 5 to 10 seconds, producing an estimated maximum thrust of 136 kilograms (300 pounds).
    — from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  4. Freedom 7 traveled at a maximum speed of 8335 kilometers (5180 miles) per hour, going 485 kilometers (302 miles) downrange.
    — from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  5. Maximum span Antenna booms 5.6 m. (18 ft., 6 in.)
    — from Rockets, Missiles, and Spacecraft of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  6. The modem sends data to the telephone line at 9600 bps, which is this modem's maximum line speed.
    — from The Online World by Odd De Presno
  7. ( Moniteur, Seance du 20 Mai 1793. )—Danton gruffly rebukes him, from time to time: a Maximum of Patriotism, whom one can neither own nor disown!
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  8. The Mountain murmurs, ill at ease: this 'Maximum of Patriotism,' how shall they either own him or disown him?
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  9. Hence the paradox of war: just because it calls for the maximum material performance, it calls out a maximum of moral resource.
    — from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
  10. His need was to exist, and to move onwards at the greatest possible risk, and with a maximum of privation.
    — from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  11. When painting is still at this stage, and is employed on hieroglyphics, it may reach the maximum of decorative splendour.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  12. Maximum will be abolished; let Sansculottism find food where it can.
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  13. Wherein was something finite and sad, for the human soul at its maximum wants a sense of the infinite.
    — from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
  14. It marries old opinion to new fact so as ever to show a minimum of jolt, a maximum of continuity.
    — from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James

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