Literary notes about eternal (AI summary)
The word "eternal" is deployed in literature to evoke the sense of timelessness and unchangeable permanence that spans both the divine and the human experience. It is used to describe the endless nature of God’s existence and wisdom, as well as the perpetual cycles of life and fate, underscoring concepts that go beyond the physical realm [1, 2, 3]. At times it captures the ceaseless torment or sorrow that haunts human existence, while in other instances it expresses the hope for everlasting love, knowledge, or redemption [4, 5, 6]. This term also serves to draw a stark contrast between mortal transient conditions and the immutable truth of eternal principles, whether in descriptions of cosmic order or moral and religious certainties [7, 8, 9].
- First, GOD is without beginning, eternal, unalterable, and everywhere, and therefore concerning his identity there can be no doubt.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke - Of God's eternal and unchangeable knowledge and will, whereby all He has made pleased Him in the eternal design as well as in the actual result.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - God, and all the attributes of God, are eternal.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - Time is the mercy of Eternity; without Time’s swiftness Which is the swiftest of all things, all were eternal torment.”
— from William Blake: A Critical Essay by Algernon Charles Swinburne - At any rate, it made him know perfection, it established in him a constant eternal knowledge.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - When she cries, I am ready to swear eternal love and cry myself."
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called and be it confessed a good confession before many witnesses.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And this is the testimony that God hath given to us eternal life.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - But now nor skill nor instrument is theirs, Since men must dread eternal pains in death.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus
