Literary notes about source (AI summary)
In literature, the word "source" is used in a rich variety of ways to denote origins, causes, or fundamental beginnings. It can suggest a wellspring of emotional sustenance or creative inspiration, as when a memory becomes an everlasting source of joy ([1]) or when intense intellectual or spiritual pursuits are traced back to their originating principle ([2], [3]). At times, it locates the physical start of something tangible—a river’s headwaters ([4]) or even a mysterious grotto that emits an inexplicable light ([5]). Meanwhile, the term also appears in more abstract settings: it is invoked as the origin of persuasive reasoning ([6]), the prime mover behind societal phenomena ([7]), or a metaphorical font from which virtues and disasters ultimately flow ([8], [9]). These varied uses underscore the word's versatility in capturing both concrete beginnings and the more elusive, underlying forces that shape experience.
- [Henriette]; for even now, when my head is covered with white hair, the recollection of her is still a source of happiness for my heart.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - .that is, the principle, the source, and the efficient cause of the whole creation.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - The will alone is; it is the thing in-itself, and the source of all these phenomena.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer - It was situate at the south of Mount Hermon, on the Jordan, just below its source.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - The furnace that was the source of this inexplicable light occupied the far side of the mountain.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Cite a persuasive passage from some other source.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - However susceptive to outside stimuli, the true source of power in man lies within himself.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - I will hint a few only, each of which will be perceived to be a source of innumerable others.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - He even went so far as to make it the source of all the animal-worshipping and plant-worshipping cults which are found among ancient peoples.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim
