Literary notes about scarcity (AI summary)
Literary authors often use "scarcity" to depict periods of physical deprivation as well as a lack of more abstract resources. In historical narratives, for instance, it is used to describe dire shortages of food and provisions during crises or extended hardships [1][2][3][4]. Economic discourses employ the term to illuminate the effects of limited money, raw materials, or even labor on trade and society [5][6][7], while other works extend the concept metaphorically to denote a paucity of ideas or desirable qualities, deepening the reader’s sense of loss or conflict [8][9]. Through these varied contexts, "scarcity" becomes a powerful symbol that encapsulates the tension between abundance and deprivation in both tangible and intangible realms [10][11][12].
- The notice of the geese they did not escape, which, as being sacred to Juno, were spared though they were in the greatest scarcity of food.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - They laboured under a scarcity of provisions on account of the excessive rains.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - Indeed, there ensued a famine and a scarcity of food; upon which they betook themselves to their supplications to God, and besought him to save them.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus - That unfortunate city gradually experienced the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - This complaint, however, of the scarcity of money, is not always confined to improvident spendthrifts.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - The scarcity of wood then raises its price.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - The process of recoinage caused for a time scarcity of coin and stoppage of trade.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - This last sort of imagination goes quite easily with slowness, or even scarcity, of ideas.
— from On Love by Stendhal - There always was a scarcity of good nature about the man; but now his whole countenance was soured over with the seemings of piety.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - A scarcity of good harbors was the only drawback amid the blessings of a glorious climate, fertile soil, varied scenery, and rich material resources.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Scarcity and want shall shun you; Ceres’ blessing so is on you.
— from The Tempest by William Shakespeare - The merit of their beauty is greatly enhanced by their scarcity.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
