Literary notes about thirty (AI summary)
The word thirty appears in literature as a steadfast numerical marker that authors use to denote precise quantities, durations, ages, or distances. In some contexts it grounds a narrative in concrete reality—for example, signifying an exact amount in money or countable items ([1], [2], [3])—while in other texts thirty demarcates significant periods or age markers, such as in reflections on maturity or life’s milestones ([4], [5], [6]). At times the number reinforces epic or dramatic scales, whether it’s enumerating a battalion of knights ([7], [8]) or describing long durations ([9], [10]), instilling a sense of order and historical weight. Thus, in literature, thirty is not merely a figure but a versatile symbol that enriches narrative detail and builds an authentic, measurable world.
- I would bet I gave you each from thirty-eight to forty sequins.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - “Only thirty acres—just the garden, all downhill, and some fields.”
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - You have been at no expense thus far, but when you come to buy a saddle and bridle they will cost you from twenty to thirty-five dollars.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - And afterwards at thirty a further selection shall be made of those who are able to withdraw from the world of sense into the abstraction of ideas.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - I am nearly thirty!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - At thirty, though, I shall be sure to leave the cup, even if I've not emptied it, and turn away—where I don't know.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - How Sir Lamorak jousted with thirty knights, and Sir Tristram at the request of King Mark smote his horse down.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - And the whole army of his fighting men, that were numbered, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - So has it lasted for six-and-thirty hours.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - My watch informed me that thirty minutes had elapsed.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
