History DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength / Literature

* Hagrid from the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series, being a half-giant, has superhuman strength. Unfortunately, he seems to forget this during physical displays of affection; his {{Bear Hug}}s almost always cause someone's bones to bruise, while a friendly pat on the back has the power to make someone fall down.

* Derek Souza in ''Literature/DarkestPowers'' is a werewolf with an incredible protective streak over the people he cares about, which leads him to do such things as throwing another boy into a wall and breaking his back, nearly tossing Chloe across a room while merely trying to keep her from stomping off, and breaking Liam's neck, killing him - and all of this completely by accident.
** Granted, nearly all of the main characters with the exception of Simon could probably fit under this trope, as their DNA has been tweaked, thus making their individual abilities much, much, ''much'' stronger than usual and leading to random outbursts of power. Most notably Chloe's accidentally raising the dead ''in her sleep'', Derek's already mentioned feats, and Liz's telekinetic tantrum [[spoiler: right before she is taken away and murdered because she cannot control her powers]].

-->'''Bane''': I didn't think it would kill Razor.
-->'''Ripred''': For you to knock him off a cliff? Well, that's the usual result.
-->'''Bane''': I didn't think he'd go over the cliff. I didn't hit him that hard.

-->'''Ripred'': For you to knock him off a cliff? Well, that's the usual result.

* The magic version is used in the ''Literature/TortallUniverse''. ''Most'' wizards can put out a candle by magic; if Numair tried it, he'd just cause an explosion.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Edward mentions something to this effect...

* In ''Literature/{{Cyborg}}'' by Creator/MartinCaidin, the novel that inspired ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', Steve Austin accidentally broke a man's wrist with his new bionic hand. Ironically, it was right after that man figured out that Austin's bionic hand had developed a feedback that ''would'' allow him to judge how much pressure he was exerting -- once he got used to it.

* Hagrid from the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series, being a half-giant, has superhuman strength. Unfortunately, he seems to forget this during physical displays of affection; his {{Bear Hug}}s almost always cause someone's bones to bruise, while a friendly pat on the back has the power to make someone fall down.
* Subverted in ''Literature/DragonBones'': GentleGiant Ward is ObfuscatingStupidity, so when a man attacks him in his own house, he throws the man into the next wall, and says "Yay, a wrestling match! I win!". However, Ward is well aware that the man didn't want to wrestle, but just wanted to hit the "harmless idiot", and he is also aware how much force he applied. However, his uncle (who believes him to be stupid) explains his behaviour with this trope, and warns the visitor that Ward is very well behaved as long as "no one lays a hand on him". Ward also likes to give a BearHug to anyone who does him a favour, as part of his pretending to be stupid. (One of his cousins mentions that he doesn't want to be nice to Ward, for fear of being rewarded with a BearHug.) As he's only pretending, Ward never actually hurts someone, he just applies enough strength to make people ''think'' that he has no idea how strong he is. His CuteMute younger sister Ciarra is shown to enjoy his hugs, apparently he's more careful with her than with older males ... and of course he doesn't have to deceive her, she's mute.
* This happens a lot to Mary Beth Layton in the book ''Superpowers''. She first discovers her super strength by breaking a door knob. And a door. And the refrigerator door handle. And a pitcher. And the phone. And the toilet, the TV remote, a broom and most of her plates and bowls. She also slips up and breaks her boyfriend's ribs during sex, and [[spoiler:beats a man to death by accident]].
* The trope is present in ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'' as one of many background details. Doctor Impossible breaks the handle of a toilet, the cyborg Fatale's weight makes hardwood floors creak and cracks tiles, and she can't use normal furniture.
* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Believe it or not, the titular character didn't initially intend to kill anybody, but when she accidentally did, she snapped and decided everyone deserved the same fate.
* Perhaps the {{Trope Maker|s}} is the protagonist from Philip Wylie's ''Literature/{{Gladiator}}'', the character credited with inspiring the Superman mythos. His superpower is basically superstrength, and it does him no good at all in this world. He accidentally kills a man playing football, gets fired from a manual labour job because he's making everyone else look bad, gets fired from a bank job because he saves someone from suffocating in the vault, and they want to know how he opened it... The entire novel is about what, realistically, it would be like to live with superstrength. A very modern look at a superhero [[UnbuiltTrope before there were superheroes]].

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Edward mentions something to this effect...
-->'''Edward:''' You have no idea how ''delicate'' you are. I could reach out, meaning to touch your face, and crush your skull by mistake.
** It's not clear to what extent this is actually true and to what extent it's Edward trying to cover up his crippling intimacy issues, however.
** Bella gets this in the fourth book because brand new vampires are so damn strong. She hugs Edward and actually hurts him, something nearly impossible to do to Twilight vampires. Emmett, widely regarded as by far the strongest Cullen, is completely overpowered in the weeks immediately after Bella's transformation.
* In ''What Fire Cannot Burn'' by Creator/JohnRidley, {{Mutants}} with SuperStrength do their best to avert this, but they must concentrate to avoid applying a little too much force. "Your sweaty nightmare -- 'Hey, do you want to hold the baby?'"
* In ''Literature/{{Cyborg}}'' by Creator/MartinCaidin, the novel that inspired ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', Steve Austin accidentally broke a man's wrist with his new bionic hand. Ironically, it was right after that man figured out that Austin's bionic hand had developed a feedback that ''would'' allow him to judge how much pressure he was exerting -- once he got used to it.

* Derek Souza in ''Literature/DarkestPowers'' is a werewolf with an incredible protective streak over the people he cares about, which leads him to do such things as throwing another boy into a wall and breaking his back, nearly tossing Chloe across a room while merely trying to keep her from stomping off, and breaking Liam's neck, killing him - and all of this completely by accident.
** Granted, nearly all of the main characters with the exception of Simon could probably fit under this trope, as their DNA has been tweaked, thus making their individual abilities much, much, ''much'' stronger than usual and leading to random outbursts of power. Most notably Chloe's accidentally raising the dead ''in her sleep'', Derek's already mentioned feats, and Liz's telekinetic tantrum [[spoiler: right before she is taken away and murdered because she cannot control her powers]].
* The magic version is used in the Literature/TortallUniverse. ''Most'' wizards can put out a candle by magic; if Numair tried it he'd just cause an explosion.

* ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' explains that John (the future Master Chief) experienced this following his augmentation surgery, leading him to wonder if the artificial gravity in the gym where he was exercising had been reduced. Shortly afterwards he was forced into a spar against four veteran Helljumpers, with John accidentally killing two as a result of this trope (it's pretty much stated that the fight was deliberately set up to test the effectiveness of his augmentations; since then, there's been bad blood between the [=ODSTs=] and the Spartans).
* [[spoiler:Scarlet]] of the ''Literature/TheUltraViolets'', mostly thanks to her powers being [[spoiler:superhuman dancing skills]] before the super-strength kicked in.
* The Wagner family in ''Literature/TheLastSuperhero'' are prone to this. It forced Orville to give up superheroing due to also being TheKlutz, and his son, John Jr., casually mentions in the narrative that he's broken the limbs and ribs of his classmates occasionally by accident.
* In ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown,'' the hulking alien Paul knows how frail Indira will become as she ages, and he's terrified of accidentally hurting her.
--> He had imagined her in this state years before, when he feared that if his massive hand even touched her in this condition, she would break like a hollow eggshell.

* ''Literature/SchooledInMagic'': A magical variation. Those with powerful magical talent (such as Emily) often have difficulty learning [[AlchemyIsMagic alchemy]], because using magic to control alchemical reactions requires a light touch.
* ''Literature/TheHauntingOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'': Gillian Little is a GentleGiant, eleven years old and already over six feet tall and a foot wide at the shoulders. She's been known to get trapped in rooms after accidentally pulling the doorknob off.
* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' shortly after [[TheBerserker Daylen]] gets [[SwissArmySuperpower his powers]], he gives "[[PunchedAcrossTheRoom a good thump]]" to a local villager who accosts him, and ends up shattering most of his ribs. Thankfully, [[CombatMedic Ahrek]] is at hand to both [[HealingHands heal the man]] before he dies and to give Daylen [[WhatTheHellHero a well-deserved tongue-lashing]]. After this, Daylen admits how reckless he was and is a lot more careful about using his strength against people who don't have his kind of powers.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Lindon spent his entire life as a cripple weaker than everyone he knows. By the fourth book, he's only barely reached a level that his allies would consider "strong enough not to embarrass us," and he spends most of his time fighting people much stronger than he is. So when a random idiot picks a fight with him, he's still trying to form a battle plan when he wins in a single blow.
* ''Literature/MoongobbleAndMe'': As demonstrated in book 5, the Oggledy Nork seems to have this problem, which causes him to accidentally break things.