Literary notes about preference (AI summary)
Writers employ "preference" to denote a choice or inclination that arises from a variety of contexts, ranging from reasoned judgments to personal or social sentiment. For instance, in political writings the term is often used to express a prioritization of ideas or documents, as seen in discussions of rational choices in [1] and [2]. In classical literature, it carries the weight of honor and entitlement, as Milton suggests in [3], while in narratives by authors like Dickens it underscores personal biases or romantic leanings, evident in [4] and [5]. Philosophical treatises also invoke "preference" to explore the foundations of moral and aesthetic decisions, as illustrated by the reflections in [6] and [7], and even historical works use it to articulate cultural or social affections, as in [8] and [9]. Overall, the term bridges a spectrum of human thought—from the practical to the ideal—serving as a subtle indicator of individual and collective priorities.
- Two strong reasons may be imagined for this preference.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - And, as a rule, for the purpose intended, numbers, in the view of simplicity and certainty, are entitled to a preference.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - Sir John feels that his qualifications ought to have entitled him to a preference.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Whispers reach me of Miss Shepherd having said she wished I wouldn’t stare so, and having avowed a preference for Master Jones—for Jones!
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - He was so perfectly innocent of my meaning, however, that I thought I would mention it to Biddy in preference.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Natural disposition, therefore, is the principle of preference and makes morality and happiness possible.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - An absolute preference for knowledge or self-consciousness would be an unmistakably human and finite ideal—something to be outgrown.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - An exile in the Byzantine court, Jabalah lamented the manners of Arabia, and his unlucky preference of the Christian cause.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Napoleon declared his preference of the Romans to the Greeks.
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 by Emperor of the French Napoleon I
