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Literary notes about resemblance (AI summary)

The word “resemblance” has long served as a versatile tool in literature, used to draw comparisons ranging from concrete physical likenesses to more abstract similarities in thought, character, or structure. In some works, it marks a single unifying thought or characteristic—as when Chekhov describes the central point common to all ideas ([1], [2]). In other texts, it bridges the gap between the tangible and the metaphorical: Dickens and Austen compare faces and form to evoke identity ([3], [4]), while Hume and others use resemblance to explore philosophical and moral relations ([5], [6], [7], [8]). Authors sometimes focus on linguistic or cultural echoes, noting how names or terms recall ancient words or natural objects, as seen in Mooney’s and Jefferson’s observations ([9], [10], [11]). Even when employed in a whimsical or ironic tone, as in the playful exclamations by Chekhov ([12]), the concept remains central to articulating the way similarities—whether striking or accidental—shape our perceptions and understanding of the world.
  1. All his thoughts, however noble, lofty, or neutral they may be, they all have one point of resemblance.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  2. The one point of resemblance between the two authors is simply in the tremendous magnitude of their genius.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  3. It appears to me a most perfect resemblance in every feature.
    — from Emma by Jane Austen
  4. "Such," said Colonel Brandon, after a pause, "has been the unhappy resemblance between the fate of mother and daughter!
    — from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  5. SOME DEGREE OF RESEMBLANCE.
    — from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
  6. But though resemblance be necessary to all philosophical relation, it does not follow, that it always produces a connexion or association of ideas.
    — from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
  7. But it is from this resemblance, that the ideas of necessity, of power, and of efficacy, are derived.
    — from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
  8. Secondly, Give a reason, why the resemblance of our broken and interrupted perceptions induces us to attribute an identity to them.
    — from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
  9. The only grain of truth in the story is that the name has a slight resemblance to năkwĭsĭ′ , the Cherokee word for “star.”
    — from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
  10. The name refers to a gourd, from a fancied resemblance of the long nose to the handle of a gourd.
    — from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
  11. Mr. Blyth states that he was struck with the resemblance between a brush-tailed race of pariah-dogs, north-west of Cawnpore, and the Indian wolf.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  12. What a resemblance!
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

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