Literary notes about worth (AI summary)
The word "worth" in literature is remarkably versatile, used to denote both tangible value and abstract merit. In some works it quantifies economic value—as in discussions of coins, estates, or goods ([1], [2], [3])—while in others it evaluates personal qualities, moral standing, or the significance of an experience ([4], [5], [6]). Authors often deploy "worth" to underscore comparative judgments, whether affirming the value of an act or object ([7], [8], [9]) or critiquing its deficiency ([10], [11]). This dual usage enriches character interactions and deepens thematic exploration, enabling writers to comment on both material and immaterial aspects of life ([12], [13]).
- It was worth at least eight thousand, yet he had only received five thousand for it.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I did not learn until afterward that it was pink lustre and worth a pretty penny.
— from The Gay Cockade by Temple Bailey - MOCCINIGO, small Venetian coin, worth about ninepence.
— from The Alchemist by Ben Jonson - “To deliver one’s brother-men from bondage is an aim worth death and life.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - His life was well worth hers.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - This truth is worth reiteration: The man within is the final factor.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - Finding the optimal network for our needs, will take time, but is well worth the effort.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno - This story is worth a diversion.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne - "I'll come if I'm at the ends of the earth; for the sight of Jo's face alone, on that occasion, would be worth a long journey.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - Why do we have to put up with an AEdile here, who’s not worth three Caunian figs and who thinks more of an as than of our lives?
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter - You are not worth the dust which the rude wind Blows in your face!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - The dangers and diseases of the old: For with due temper men doe then forgoe, 90 Or covet things, when they their true worth know.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) by John Donne - She would be worth more to us than all the money that could be paid for her.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs
