Literary notes about risk (AI summary)
The term “risk” in literature is employed in many nuanced ways, serving both as a literal marker of danger and as a metaphor for the uncertainty that accompanies significant decisions. In adventure narratives, for example, risk often conveys the physical perils of journeys and expeditions, as seen in Jules Verne’s depiction of seafaring ventures ([1], [2], [3], [4]), while in other contexts it highlights the potential of social or moral missteps—from the fear of exposing ignorance in everyday conversation ([5]) to the calculated gambles inherent in human behavior and love ([6], [7]). Moreover, legal or societal constraints are frequently tied to risk, where characters weigh potential consequences against the possibility of personal or collective gain ([8], [9], [10]). Overall, this versatility in meaning enriches literary narrative by framing risk as an integral element of both external adventure and internal conflict, prompting readers to consider the inherent unpredictability of life.
- "Well, your honour," replied he, "I could not risk myself, my men, or my little boat of scarcely twenty tons on so long a voyage at this time of year.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - All right, I admit it: I did wish to run this risk!
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - " "What does one risk in such a calling?" said Ned Land, "the swallowing of some mouthfuls of sea-water?" "As you say, Ned.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of the sea of the Antilles.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - This was a relief to me, as I now knew where I was, and I no longer ran the risk of shewing my ignorance in the course of conversation.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Croce counted on my having been interested in your pretty face, and he was right; but you must see that he exposed you to a great risk.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - And so I concluded that with women you have to risk everything.
— from On Love by Stendhal - Hence it may naturally be supposed that the risk of a man's conduct is thrown upon him as the result of some moral short-coming.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - 7] he puts at risk,—a principle similar to that on which corporations have been so largely created in America during the last fifty years.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - And there are cases where conduct with only the intent and knowledge thus necessarily implied is sufficient to throw the risk of it on the actor.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes
