ennoble

The author makes clear that suffering, despite popular mythology, typically does not ennoble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

It’s a conviction that allows us to ennoble ourselves with pathos, with rueful maturity, with wisdom won too late.

From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2021

The number of people who, out of civic generosity, think that they can enlarge or ennoble their selves by giving their energies to a good larger than themselves?

From Salon ● May 27, 2019

For Hegel, as Hägglund reads him, a religious institution is really just a community that has come together to ennoble “a governing set of norms—a shared understanding of what counts as good and just.”

From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2019

Other creatures only think of supporting themselves; but man is allowed to ennoble his nature, by cultivating his mind and enlarging his heart. 

From Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories by Mary Wollstonecraft

It’s a great, and possibly fictitious, myth that ennobles an ethos of isolated bravery.

From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2024

That awful blur is another stain on history, one that ennobles “The High Ground’s” mission.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2023

Bel Powley and Liev Schreiber breathe life and tenderness into Miep and Otto's partnership, and Powley ennobles Miep with a range of emotions including a plausible measure of humor.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2023

We’d like to believe that suffering instructs and ennobles; that our grief, fear and pain increases our sympathy for the grief, fear and pain of others.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 6, 2020

He has established two schools here, one for boys and another for girls, with three hundred pupils, trained in all that ennobles life.

From Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous by Sarah K. Bolton

Better to live in a world where freedom of expression is ubiquitous than one where the “truth” is told to us by a few ennobled journalists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

Lord Houchen is the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, which includes Stockton, and was ennobled in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.

From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2023

But on the very eve of publication, Trevor-Roper, who had been ennobled as Baron Dacre, called to say he had changed his mind and now felt they were forgeries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2023

And that is the thing about generative AI and language learning models: They exist only by feeding on the ennobled human soul.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2023

These opportunities, therefore, made these men successful, and their outstanding virtue enabled them to recognize that opportunity, whereby their nation was ennobled and became extremely happy.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

For readers new to his work, the novel is an accessible introduction to the author’s prose style and thematic interests, including the ennobling effects of romantic love and beauty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Shostakovich’s detractors have accused him of ennobling Stalin while defenders have sought out subtle musical cues of dissent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024

Philanthropy, the ennobling pursuit of the rich and famous, is in the headlines.

From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2022

“Theater isn’t supposed to be accusing anyone. It’s supposed to be supporting and maybe ennobling them in some way.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2021

And this confession made his romantic gestures all the more ennobling.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan