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Literary notes about sagacity (AI summary)

Throughout literature, "sagacity" is employed to denote an exceptional depth of judgment and insight that often distinguishes characters or actions. It appears in contexts ranging from the practical foresight of military leaders and statesmen, as when Wellington exemplifies foresight [1] and the general displays strategic acumen [2], to the intellectual prowess that enables individuals to decipher complex schemes or mysteries, as seen when personal discernment unravels disguises or deceptions [3, 4]. The term also serves as a measure of moral and intellectual rigor, whether used to laud the analytical skills of scientists and philosophers [5, 6, 7, 8] or to underscore a character’s innate prudence and capacity for deep understanding in both mundane and extraordinary circumstances [9, 10, 11]. This versatile concept, interwoven with elements of intuition, research, and even prophetic insight, thereby becomes a recurrent emblem of high-minded wisdom in the literary tradition [12, 13, 14].
  1. In the preceding year, Wellington, with the sagacity of foresight, had examined it as the possible seat of a great battle.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  2. This sagacity of the General is visible not only in this campaign, but throughout all the three Wars of the Great King!
    — from On War by Carl von Clausewitz
  3. By the help of these signs, his sagacity soon comprehended the nature of his schemes, and prepared accordingly for a formal defiance.
    — from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett
  4. The story became known, and gave the good folk of Augsburg much amusement, while I became renowned for my sagacity in piercing the disguise.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  5. See for example the sagacity which Spencer and Weismann now display.
    — from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
  6. 6.] is that sagacity, which leads to the discovery of truth, and preserves us from error and mistake.
    — from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume
  7. This doctrine of the co-existence of Freedom and Necessity I regard as the greatest of all the achievements of human sagacity.
    — from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer
  8. It is then called good sense or prudence, as in its other application it is better called acuteness, penetration, sagacity.
    — from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer
  9. The sagacity of the man of business perceived an advantage here, and determined to hold it.
    — from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  10. Fear is an instructor of great sagacity, and the herald of all revolutions.
    — from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  11. Well, then, I must trust to my own sagacity.’
    — from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  12. [ 54 ] No question was too hard for her to answer, and the king was constantly being surprised at her sagacity.
    — from Filipino Popular Tales
  13. [150] sagacity, and a nameless something
    — from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  14. Taylor was a man of undoubted integrity and great political sagacity.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson

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