Literary notes about nice (AI summary)
The word “nice” functions in literature as a remarkably flexible descriptor, lending nuance to both character and setting. Authors harness its versatility to convey a range of qualities—from suggesting gentle goodwill or refined sentiment ([1], [2], [3]) and highlighting physical attractiveness ([4], [5], [6]) to indicating manners or moral propriety ([7], [8], [9]). At times, “nice” is employed to evoke everyday comforts or practical pleasantness ([10], [11], [12]), while in other instances it carries a hint of irony or superficiality ([13], [14], [15]). This varied usage underscores “nice” as a subtle yet powerful tool in creating character moods and atmospheres throughout literary works ([16], [17], [18]).
- “Nor I. But I hope everything will be nice for Miss Stacy’s and Mr. and Mrs. Allan’s sakes,” said Anne listlessly.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - It will please him very much, and be a nice way of thanking him.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - Matthew understands me, and it’s so nice to be understood, Marilla.”
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - She must have been a nice-looking lady when well, with light hair, and blue eyes and all that.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Yes--someday, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now.
— from A Doll's House : a play by Henrik Ibsen - She is a nice plump young lass, and it is customary with me to adopt that manner of showing that I personally approve of a girl.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - 'That's true again,' said Mr Milvey. 'Tom Bocker is a nice boy' (thoughtfully).
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - ‘He is a very nice gentleman, Sir,’ said Kit, ‘and that’s all I know about him.’
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - The Pastor is such a nice man to deal with; and I certainly think I've as much right to a little of that money as he has—that brute of a carpenter.
— from Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen - 'I saved a nice little bit of bacon for you from master's breakfast.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - But I want to have everything as nice and dainty as possible.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - Looking up from his food, he remarked: “You've a lot of nice things about the place.
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. by John Galsworthy - “You ought to realize that it’s not a very nice part you are playing.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - “I don’t think it at all nice of him to play a part.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - You don't, but it is nice of you to pretend that you do.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Taken by itself, the Greek argument is a nice piece of formal logic.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - A nice good ghost, of course, and still with a pretty name, but only a ghost.
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim - Until a few months ago he had never known a "nice" woman who looked at life differently; and if a man married it must necessarily be among the nice.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton