Literary notes about censorious (AI summary)
In literature, “censorious” is frequently employed to depict characters or voices that are harshly judgmental and self-righteous, often serving as a critique of moral rigidity. Its usage spans from satirical portrayals—where a character’s overcritical nature becomes a subject of irony—to more somber reflections on society’s intolerance, as in discussions of societal and generational attitudes [1, 2]. The term can express both personal disdain and a broader cultural commentary. For instance, it is invoked to underscore how even those once admired may later be seen as uncharitable and overly severe [3, 4]. Across various works—from comedic dramas where characters are labeled with a “censorious” reputation [5] to philosophical meditations on the nature of judgment [6]—the word functions as both a descriptor of individual temperament and a subtle indictment of a community’s tendency toward moral strictness.
- Should we be found together, what would a censorious world think of my conduct?”
— from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole - We are less censorious than our ancestors were.
— from The American MindThe E. T. Earl Lectures by Bliss Perry - I’ll take my death, Marwood, you are more censorious than a decayed beauty, or a discarded toast:—Mincing, tell the men they may come up.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve - but the world is so censorious no character escapes.
— from The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan - Fie, fie, friend, if you grow censorious I must leave you:—I’ll look upon the gamesters in the next room.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve - Every impulse, however, had initially the same authority as this censorious one, by which the others are now judged and condemned.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
