Literary notes about sensible (AI summary)
In literature, "sensible" takes on a range of meanings that underscore both intellectual and perceptual qualities. It is often used to denote practical wisdom and sound judgment—as when a character is recognized for being level-headed and rational ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, the term conveys a keen awareness of one's environment or sensations, whether referring to an acute perception of physical surroundings or internal feelings ([5], [6], [7]). In more philosophical or technical treatments, "sensible" can describe that which is accessible to the senses, laying the groundwork for discussions on the nature of reality and our understanding of pleasure and emotion ([8], [9]). Overall, authors employ the word to capture both the mundane and the profound aspects of human cognition and experience ([10], [11]).
- "Now, George," said the other, keeping close to him, "you're a sensible man and a well-conducted man; that's what YOU are, beyond a doubt.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - And now I made a mistake which any donkey might make, but a sensible man never.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - In our own country, the chief praise bestowed is always that of a GOOD-NATURED, SENSIBLE FELLOW.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume - There could be no doubt of his being a sensible man.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen - I began to dream, almost before I ceased to be sensible of my locality.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - He was humane to foreigners, and made them sensible of his liberality.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus - When I am immediately threatened with any grievous ill, my fears, apprehensions, and aversions rise to a great height, and produce a sensible emotion.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - Upon the removal of the ideas of these sensible qualities, they are utterly annihilated to the thought or imagination.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - Some have thought that there was no pleasure but what was ‘excited’ by some sensible motion in the body.
— from Utopia by Saint Thomas More - “Well, that’s all very sensible, Athos,” said d’Artagnan.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - I spoke in the beginning like a sensible man whose duty it was to warn you; and now I am only a man—a man who loves you—Command, and I obey.”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
