better angels

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Noun

better angels pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic) Morally upright or otherwise positive attributes of human character.
    • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, chapter 29:
      So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.
    • 1861 March 4, Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address‎:
      The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
    • 1982 December 25, “Opinion: Children at the Window”, in New York Times, retrieved 3 September 2016:
      A Christmas without children would be like a sleigh ride without snow. What gives this day its special grace is the glimpse it yields of a child's belief in the better angels of a grown-up world. Selfishness recedes, good will and gentleness for a blessed moment prevail.
    • 2007, Chris Wallin, Craig Wiseman (lyrics and music), “Love me if you can”, performed by Toby Keith:
      Call me wrong, call me right / But I bring my better angels to every fight
    • 2023 May 8, Naomi Klein, “AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
      Of his fellow tech CEOs – the ones competing to rush out their rival chatbots – he said: “I think the better angels are going to win out.” Better angels? At Google?
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