Literary notes about unruly (AI summary)
The word "unruly" is deployed across literary works to evoke images of both physical and emotional defiance. It is often used to describe uncontrolled natural forces or behavior—ranging from wild animals and impetuous weather to rebellious actions and passions. In some texts, it signifies nature’s resistance to restraint, as when horses or cattle defy taming [1, 2], while in others it underscores human traits such as an ungovernable temper or spirit [3, 4, 5]. Its recurrence in the writings of Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, and beyond illustrates its enduring capacity to symbolize disorder and defiance against societal norms [6, 7, 8].
- A father ought always to be rich; he ought to keep his children well in hand, like unruly horses.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac - If it is a man driving unruly cattle, certain other traits should be found.
— from How We Think by John Dewey - The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol XXXIII, No. 6, December 1848 by Various - The [Greek: enkrates] is he who has bad or unruly appetites, but whose reason is strong enough to keep them under.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle - He is uncontrolled, he is wild and unruly—we are trying him now for that—but who is responsible for his life?
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - But, too unruly deer, he breaks the pale, And feeds from home; poor I am but his stale. LUCIANA.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - but the weak, unruly race of men, are they gods?
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Not only were they late this year, but unruly.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
