Literary notes about nil (AI summary)
Across a range of literary periods and genres, the word nil is employed as a multifaceted symbol of absence or nothingness. Philosophical meditations, such as those invoking the idea that one should admire even “nothing” [1, 2], illuminate its abstract use, while in narrative prose it can denote a literal lack, as when exhaustion is described as nil during a lengthy walk [3] or when a mathematical line is said to have thickness nil [4]. Medieval and early modern texts also deploy nil for expressive effect in both dialogue and description, reflecting on emotional emptiness or the absence of response [5, 6, 7]. Even in scientific and technical discourse, nil appears as a precise descriptor of a null value or measurement. Thus, its recurrent use—from philosophical treatises and poetic endeavors to scientific observations—highlights a versatility that enables authors to convey both the ineffable void and quantifiable absence within the diverse tapestry of literary expression [8, 9].
- A man should be enough of a philosopher to admire even this "nothing" ( Nil admirari ).
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - In these later years, and not before, a man comes to a true appreciation of Horace's maxim: Nil admirari.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Counsels and Maxims by Arthur Schopenhauer - As for the exhaustion bound to accompany a two–hour stroll in such unfamiliar trappings—it was nil.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil , has no real existence.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells - not that she nil finden weye To come ayein, my lyf that dorste I leye.
— from Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer - 595 `Distreyne hir herte as faste to retorne As thou dost myn to longen hir to see; Than woot I wel, that she nil nought soiorne.
— from Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer - 1475 And Troilus, of whom ye nil han routhe, Shal causeles so sterven in his trouthe!
— from Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer - The consciousness doesn't count, these reasoners say; it doesn't exist for science, it is nil ; you mustn't think about it at all.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - It gives me feelings akin to the kind of emotional taste, which dominates me at the moment, or if my feelings are nil, makes for variety in my ideas.
— from On Love by Stendhal
