Literary notes about best (AI summary)
The word "best" functions as a versatile superlative in literature, often serving as both an evaluative and a prescriptive term. It not only designates the highest quality or most desirable state—as seen when characters claim to have made the best of opportunities or experiences ([1], [2])—but it also offers advice or commands an optimal action, as in the imperative "thou hadst best cut a piece off the top" ([3]) or the counsel to "do my best" ([4]). In poetic and philosophical writings, "best" elevates concepts to a moral or aesthetic ideal ([5], [6]), while in narratives its use underscores personal merit, quality of service, or subject rankings ([7], [8]). Thus, across diverse literary genres from epic poetry to social narrative, "best" encapsulates both an ideal state of being and a benchmark for excellence.
- We made the best of it, and passed the night on board.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - The habit of making the best of everything and of always looking on the bright side is a fortune in itself.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - Thou hadst best cut a piece off the top and tack it to the bottom, so that it may be long enough.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - And here I am among you to try and do my best.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - All is best, though we oft doubt, What th' unsearchable dispose Of highest wisdom brings about, And ever best found in the close.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton - Awake, My fairest, my espoused, my latest found, Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight!
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Each day he had the best of everything to eat and drink that a man could wish for.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Pick out, therefore, the three best men you have in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old man will play you.
— from The Odyssey by Homer
