A deliberate exaggeration, which no one takes literally, to give emphasis to a feeling or a situation.
In The Brothers Karamazov
all the world of knowledge is then not worth these little tears of the baby to the little God.
All the world of knowledge is weighed against a few little tears. The deliberate exaggeration puts all of human learning and a child on a scale, and shows which side Ivan is on.
Because if I keep silent, gentlemen, it is because there is a shame here for me. In answering the question of where I got this money, a shame is contained for me with which not even the murder and robbery of my father could be compared, if I had killed and robbed him.
Book IX: The preparatory proceedings, Mitya to the examining magistrate, in the third ordeal
know, then, that there is nothing higher, stronger, healthier and more useful for life from now on than some good memory, especially one brought from childhood, from the parental home.
Epilogue: Ilyusha's funeral, Alyosha to the boys, beside Ilyusha's stone
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