Approach

əˈproʊtʃ

verb

to come near or nearer to something in distance or time

The word 'approach' can refer to both physical movement towards something or a method or way of dealing with a situation. It can also be used in a figurative sense, such as approaching a problem with a creative mindset.

Yet now you approach the limits —not of belief, but of comprehension.

Stephen King

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)

‘As Queen of Elves and Men she dwelt with Aragorn for six-score years in great glory and bliss; yet at last he felt the approach of old age and knew that the span of his life-days was drawing to an end, long though it had been.

J. R. R. Tolkien

The Return of the King

Differences should be detected that are due not only to gross physical defects, inherited or acquired, but also to shifting states of emotion, to advancing education and experience, even to something as subtle as a change in the subject’s philosophy of life.” But even Seldon could approach no further than speculation.

Asimov, Isaac

Foundation 3 - Second Foundation

As for me, I could count myself honored past all deserving if I might be allowed but the privilege of looking upon them once—at a distance, I mean, for it would not become one of my degree to approach them too near.” The Paladin was disconcerted for a moment, seeing by the faces around him that Joan had put into words what the others felt, then he pulled his complacency together and fell to faultfinding again.

Mark Twain

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

She had instinctively turned away; but, stopping on his approach, received his compliments with an embarrassment impossible to be overcome.

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

“I only told you all this in order to give you some insight into the extraordinary novelty of the ways in which Felix was likely to approach an old problem.

Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Cradle

You may approach.” When he raised his head, his eyes were red and raw as open sores.

George R. R. Martin

A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Five

The herd approach’d; each guest, with busy brain, Arriving at the portal, gazed amain, And enter’d marvelling: for they knew the street, Remember’d it from childhood all complete Without a gap, yet ne’er before had seen That royal porch, that high-built fair demesne; So in they hurried all, mazed, curious and keen: Save one, who look’d thereon with eye severe, And with calm-planted steps walk’d in austere: ’Twas Apollonius: something too he laugh’d, As though some knotty problem, that had daft His patient thought, had now begun to thaw, And solve and melt:—’twas just as he foresaw.

John Keats

Poetry

At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal power in the human soul: one very reasonably tells a man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of escaping it; the other, still more reasonably, says that it is too depressing and painful to think of the danger, since it is not in man’s power to foresee everything and avert the general course of events, and it is therefore better to disregard what is painful till it comes, and to think about what is pleasant.

Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace

And when the end comes, and when it is as horrible as good men always knew it would be, there is only one thing to say as all those good men approach the Throne of Judgment: I was misled.

King, Stephen

The Stand

“The prices allowed by the board are very small, Mr. Bumble.” “So are the coffins,” replied the beadle: with precisely as near an approach to a laugh as a great official ought to indulge in.

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist

Our task is to find out why before we approach him again.” One of Halleck’s aides down the table swiveled in his chair, snapped: “There’s no justice in this!” “Justice?” The Duke looked at the man.

Herbert, Frank

Dune

Harry did not need to kneel or even approach very close to it to make out the words engraved upon it.JAMES POTTER LILY POTTERBORN 27 MARCH 1960DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.Harry read the words slowly, as though he would have only one chance to take in their meaning, and he read the last of them aloud.“‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death’ . .

J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

But he keeps apart, ashamed that his work is less well regarded than theirs.” “Tell me,” says Iris, brave to approach a subject now that the Master is away, “tell me: Is there a changeling child in Haarlem?” “Gossip is stronger than gospel sometimes,” says Caspar.

Gregory Maguire

Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister

Had they left their comrade and pushed on forthwith, there was nothing at that time between them and London but batteries of twelve-pounder guns, and they would certainly have reached the capital in advance of the tidings of their approach; as sudden, dreadful, and destructive their advent would have been as the earthquake that destroyed Lisbon a century ago.

H. G. Wells

The War of the Worlds

We are here; and whilst this is close to you no foul thing can approach.

Bram Stoker

Dracula

Because the Romans did in these instances what all prudent princes ought to do, who have to regard not only present troubles, but also future ones, for which they must prepare with every energy, because, when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them; but if you wait until they approach, the medicine is no longer in time because the malady has become incurable; for it happens in this, as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure.

Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince

That was the nearest approach to independence a man could make “under capitalism,” he explained; he would never marry, for no sane man would allow himself to fall in love until after the revolution.

Upton Sinclair

The Jungle

Not far from these Phoenician Dido stood, Fresh from her wound, her bosom bath’d in blood; Whom when the Trojan hero hardly knew, Obscure in shades, and with a doubtful view, (Doubtful as he who sees, thro’ dusky night, Or thinks he sees, the moon’s uncertain light,) With tears he first approach’d the sullen shade; And, as his love inspir’d him, thus he said: “Unhappy queen!

Virgil

The Aeneid

"You have your sheep; hell, you can follow the Ascent in your individual life, and when you grasp the two handles of empathy you approach honorably.

Dick, Philip K.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach what is called honesty; and the higher man must open his ears to all the coarser or finer cynicism, and congratulate himself when the clown becomes shameless right before him, or the scientific satyr speaks out.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

Nor, though placed amongst a ruthless crew and every hour passed by ruthless hands, and through the livelong nights shrouded with thick darkness which might cover any pilfering approach, nevertheless every sunrise found the doubloon where the sunset left it last.

Herman Melville

Moby Dick

Whilst Pinocchio was swimming, he knew not whither, he saw in the midst of the sea a rock that seemed to be made of white marble, and on the summit there stood a beautiful little goat who bleated lovingly and made signs to him to approach.

Carlo Collodi

The Adventures of Pinocchio

Ser Kyle's shoulders were slumped in dejection, but he looked up at Dunk's approach.

George R.R. Martin

The Tales of Dunk & Egg

“Man does not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach; and monsters of all shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours.

Alexandre Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo

If “the sausage” as they called it, stood on end, it was a sign that he might approach and repose; but if it lay flat across the sofa, woe to the man, woman, or child who dared disturb it!

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women

In spite of the momentary desire he had just been feeling for company of any sort, on being actually spoken to he felt immediately his habitual irritable and uneasy aversion for any stranger who approached or attempted to approach him.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

It seems as though, at the approach of a certain dark hour, the light of heaven fills those who are quitting the light of earth.

Victor Hugo

Les Misérables

He regretted now that he had given the birds of the island such strange names that they are very wild and difficult of approach.

J. M. Barrie

Peter and Wendy

Gimme some or I’ll hurt you!” They pushed her away at the water fountain, and threw rocks at her if she tried to approach them on the playground.

Rick Riordan

The Son of Neptune

Fishermen, hunters, woodchoppers, and others, spending their lives in the fields and woods, in a peculiar sense a part of Nature themselves, are often in a more favorable mood for observing her, in the intervals of their pursuits, than philosophers or poets even, who approach her with expectation.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

In his earlier middle age he had been distressed by this absence of neck, but was comforted by reading in Balzac’s Louis Lambert that all the world’s great men have been marked by the same peculiarity, and for a simple and obvious reason: Greatness is nothing more nor less than the harmonious functioning of the faculties of the head and heart; the shorter the neck, the more closely these two organs approach one another; argal … It was convincing.

Aldous Huxley

Crome Yellow

I too many and many a time cross’d the river of old, Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies, Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left the rest in strong shadow, Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south, Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water, Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams, Look’d at the fine centrifugal spokes of light round the shape of my head in the sunlit water, Look’d on the haze on the hills southward and south-westward, Look’d on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet, Look’d toward the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving, Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me, Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops, saw the ships at anchor, The sailors at work in the rigging or out astride the spars, The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender serpentine pennants, The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilot-houses, The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels, The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sunset, The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the frolicsome crests and glistening, The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the granite storehouses by the docks, On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug closely flank’d on each side by the barges, the hay-boat, the belated lighter, On the neighboring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys burning high and glaringly into the night, Casting their flicker of black contrasted with wild red and yellow light over the tops of houses, and down into the clefts of streets.

Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass

I’m not sure what our current approach is.

Suzanne Collins

Hunger Games 1 - The Hunger Games

The conscious terror of death and the burden of prophecy lie heavy upon her; terrible signs and visions greet her approach.

Oscar Wilde

Poetry

I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus

If it's a first notice, Jason likes to drop by in person, just to show the flag, to emphasize that his organization takes a personal, one-to-one, hands-on, micromanaged approach to debt-related issues.

Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash

The voice of dark age, of unlove, earth’s fatigue made grave approach, and painful, come from afar, from hoary mountains, called on good men and true.

James Joyce

Ulysses

When in fresh company, I would embark on little wanton problems of conduct, observing the impact of this or that approach on my hearers, treating fellow-men as so many targets for intellectual ingenuity: until I could hardly tell my own self where the leg-pulling began or ended.

T. E. Lawrence

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Idaho felt that he had never before seen such rapture in human faces—not in the ecstasy of sex, not in glorious victory-at-arms— nowhere had he seen anything to approach this intense adulation.

Frank Herbert

God Emperor of Dune

Small sounds carried far; domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly audible on either side of the roadway; and the rumour of the approach of any passenger preceded him by a long time.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

But—Oh, I think we’d better use something more dignified and forceful, like ‘We lead, others follow,’ or ‘Eventually, why not now?’ Course I believe in using poetry and humor and all that junk when it turns the trick, but with a high-class restricted development like the Glen we better stick to the more dignified approach, see how I mean?

Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt

Everything goes to show that that was the individual admitted by the window, and though Mr. Ackroyd was seen alive later by Miss Flora, we cannot approach a solution of the mystery until we know who that visitor was.

Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Here were the servants of your adversary And yours, close fighting ere I did approach.

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

Although fully trusting to the statements of Huber and Mr. Smith, I tried to approach the subject in a sceptical frame of mind, as anyone may well be excused for doubting the existence of so extraordinary an instinct as that of making slaves.

Charles Darwin

The Origin of Species

The wild Indian power of escaping observation, even where there is little or no cover to hide in, was probably slowly acquired in hard hunting and fighting lessons while trying to approach game, take enemies by surprise, or get safely away when compelled to retreat.

John Muir

My First Summer in the Sierra

Perhaps the mud was disturbed by Richard’s approach; more likely, as Richard was convinced forever after, it was just the sheer cussedness of the material world.

Gaiman, Neil

Neverwhere

Rain was falling when I woke up on our final approach to home.

Palahniuk, Chuck

Fight Club

When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee anything injurious, approach their poor souls, penetrate within, and see what kind of men they are.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

While this gay friendly troop the king surround, With festival and mirth the roofs resound; A bard amid the joyous circle sings High airs attemper'd to the vocal strings; Whilst warbling to the varied strain, advance Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance, 'Twas then, that issuing through the palace gate, The splendid car roll'd slow in regal state: On the bright eminence young Nestor shone, And fast beside him great Ulysses' son; Grave Eteoneous saw the pomp appear, And speeding, thus address'd the royal ear; "Two youths approach, whose semblant features prove Their blood devolving from the source of Jove Is due reception deign'd, or must they bend Their doubtful course to seek a distant friend?"

Homer

The Odyssey

You may approach.” When he raised his head, his eyes were red and raw as open sores.

Martin, George, R. R.

A Dance With Dragons

“The late Archibald Ogilvie was the nearest approach to a good man ever born at Glengyle.

G. K. Chesterton

The Innocence of Father Brown

She entered—it was if the doors at her approach had opened wide of their own accord.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

Thus with the year Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and, for the book of knowledge fair, Presented with a universal blank Of Nature’s works, to me expunged and rased, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

John Milton

Paradise Lost

For thou shouldst know, Sancho, if thou dost not know, that two things alone beyond all others are incentives to love, and these are great beauty and a good name, and these two things are to be found in Dulcinea in the highest degree, for in beauty no one equals her and in good name few approach her; and to put the whole thing in a nutshell, I persuade myself that all I say is as I say, neither more nor less, and I picture her in my imagination as I would have her to be, as well in beauty as in condition; Helen approaches her not nor does Lucretia come up to her, nor any other of the famous women of times past, Greek, Barbarian, or Latin; and let each say what he will, for if in this I am taken to task by the ignorant, I shall not be censured by the critical.” “I say that your worship is entirely right,” said Sancho, “and that I am an ass.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quixote

And you can’t let crazy people decide whether you’re crazy or not, can you?’ Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach.

Heller, Joseph

Catch-22

In the blue vault of the heaven there had appeared three little specks which increased in size every moment, so rapidly did they approach.

Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet

Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for certain; and the greater the number of your tickets the nearer you approach to this certainty.

Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations