better angels

alternative better angels of one's nature

1. idiomaticpluralplural onlyMorally upright or otherwise positive attributes of human character.

   Call me wrong, call me right / But I bring my better angels to every fight

   2007, Chris Wallin, Craig Wiseman, “Love me if you can”, performed by Toby Keith

   4 more examples

   So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 29.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC

   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.

   1861 March 4, Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address

   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.

   1982 December 25, “Opinion: Children at the Window”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Sep 2016

   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?

   2023 May 8, Naomi Klein, “AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are”, in The Guardian, →ISSN