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Literary notes about harmful (AI summary)

The term "harmful" serves as a versatile descriptor in literature, capturing a wide array of adverse effects that span from physical and physiological consequences to intellectual, moral, and social detriments. In some passages, such as those discussing the adverse effects of substances or actions on the body ([1], [2], [3]), it underscores the potential danger arising from overindulgence or excess. In contrast, other works employ it as a critique of ideas and behaviors that may erode social capitals or moral foundations ([4], [5], [6]). Moreover, "harmful" is often used to highlight the duality of human endeavors, capable of both nurturing and damaging influences, as depicted in considerations of both individual and collective actions ([7], [8], [9]). Thus, this adjective not only marks the physical or immediate negative impact but also evokes deeper reflections about the long-term consequences of societal and ideological currents.
  1. It increases the capacity for muscular and mental work without harmful reaction.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  2. Some suppose it to be harmful, but it is in reality very easy of digestion.
    — from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera
  3. Of course, caffein, like any other alkaloid, if used to excess will prove harmful, due to the over-stimulation induced by it.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  4. I wish to disabuse your minds of this harmful error.
    — from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
  5. We live in a world of realities that can be infinitely useful or infinitely harmful.
    — from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James
  6. Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission.
    — from The Human Machine by Arnold Bennett
  7. Man may be compelled to exterminate harmful creatures.
    — from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
  8. My gracious liege, this too much lenity And harmful pity must be laid aside.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  9. The schools are no good to me, but positively harmful, as I told you.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy

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