Diminishment

1902, G. K. Chesterton, “The Characteristics of Robert Louis Stevenson” in G. K. Chesterton and William Robertson Nicoll, Robert Louis Stevenson, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p. 9, All great men possess in themselves the qualities which will certainly lay them open to censure and diminishment; but these inevitable deficiencies in the greatness of great men vary in the widest degree of variety.

1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, New York: Vintage, 1946, Appendix, “Quentin,” p. 424, […] this was Jason’s rage, the red unbearable fury which on that night and at intervals recurring with little or no diminishment for the next five years, made him seriously believe would at some unwarned instant destroy him […]

They also shewed forth the letters which hee had sent to the Duke of Irelande, to leuie an armie vnto theyr destruction. Likewise the letters which the Frenche king had written to him conteyning a safe conducte for him to come into Fraunce, there to confyrme things to the diminishment of his honor, to the decay of his power, and losse of his fame.

I think the Western tradition has been a marvelous, wonderful tradition. But it’s not the only tradition full of great ideas. And I’m not talking about any diminishment of standards. Even by the most conservative notion of what is good and bad, we will find excellence in other cultures, like the great Indian cultures, the great Chinese cultures, the great African cultures.

The impact on rural communities of rail closures was acute, but I would argue that the worst outcome it created was the long-term diminishment of suburban capacity outside London, which has had a far more insidious effect on rail usage nationally.