Literary notes about speculate (AI summary)
The term “speculate” in literature is deployed with a versatile nuance, ranging from abstract philosophical pondering to practical conjecture about future events or unknown outcomes. Authors often invoke it to question alternate historical possibilities or personal decisions, as when a narrative reflects on what might have been if circumstances had differed [1, 2]. It also appears to describe attempts to interpret behavior or societal trends, illustrating both a casual curiosity and a more probing, analytical mindset [3, 4, 5]. Moreover, characters sometimes use the term in contexts of financial or artistic risk-taking, emphasizing the uncertainty inherent in these ventures [6, 7, 8]. Overall, “speculate” serves as a bridge between the tangible and the hypothetical, inviting deeper reflection on the limits of knowledge and the endless range of possible outcomes [9, 10].
- One is tempted to speculate as to what might have happened had Charles espoused the reforming cause.
— from The Holy Roman Empire by Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount - It is interesting to speculate what might have happened if this temporary union of the Northmen had endured.
— from A Short History of the World by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells - ‘You spy and speculate on people’s business with me, do you?’
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - Old Osborne did not speculate much upon the mingled nature of his feelings, and how his instinct and selfishness were combating together.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - The so-called "practical men" sneer at speculative men, as if, because they speculate or see , they could do nothing.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - I will be an architect, which will place me among those who possess riches and intellect, and who speculate in art.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - “No, that he don’t I do a bit in the City, and speculate in a few bills occasionally.
— from Sawn Off: A Tale of a Family Tree by George Manville Fenn - They are those of young men, who represent firms, or who speculate on their own account.
— from The Confessions of a Collector by William Carew Hazlitt - The crudest intellect cannot speculate on such a subject without having a presentiment that Time is something ideal in its nature.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Studies in Pessimism by Arthur Schopenhauer - You know that I am, so to speak, plunged into music,—that I am occupied with it the whole day,—that I like to speculate, to study, and to reflect.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
