Word: instinctive
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...flirted with silliness, but its power to spur the ambition of young authors cannot be discounted. The paradox of Mailer's career is that his pursuit of this white whale proved the quest in his case unnecessary. He became a major writer without becoming a major novelist. His instinct to abandon fiction for long periods was, given his talents and temperament, entirely correct. His unique value among his contemporaries proved to be the witness he could bear to his age and its possible consequences. His energy and imagination have been aroused most keenly by doubt, the sense that every...
...instinct, Ronald Reagan is no friend of protectionism, and he has gone to some lengths to prove it. His Administration has consistently attempted to blunt the intentions of some protection-minded members of Congress concerned with high levels of domestic unemployment. The President firmly believes that, as he has put it, "free trade serves the cause of economic progress and the cause of world peace." But even an ardent free-marketeer can make exceptions. Last week Reagan did, in a way that brought surprise and outrage from Japanese officials. Slapping an elevenfold increase on American tariffs for, of all things...
Life here isn't easy, but most of us seem willing to tolerate the pressure and fight for some degree of personal accomplishment. We conserve our energies primarily for activities that contribute to a broadly defined program of training for post-college life. When this instinct chains a person to a library desk, it is regrettable. But having recognized its dangers and spurned some of its more distasteful products. I firmly believe that, on balance. I have benefited from the Harvard grind...
...Cottle, "celebrities express the feeling of being dehumanized by dint of their celebrity. I'm trying to recapture their humanity." The trouble is that his famous guests, performers by instinct, have a tendency to be psychic strippers. With the merest prodding they will shred the last thread of privacy and reveal intimate aspects of their lives. Cottle calls it the "strangers on a train" phenomenon. Yet his guests expose themselves to a faceless audience of millions, turning viewers into video voyeurs...
...penalty, deterrence hardly matters anyway. Declares Buckley: "If it could be absolutely determined that there was no deterrent factor, I'd still be in favor of capital punishment." Taking the lives of murderers has a zero-sum symmetry that is simple and satisfying enough to feel like human instinct: the worst possible crime deserves no less than the worst possible punishment. "An eye for an eye," says Illinois Farmer Jim Hensley. "That's what it has to be. People can't be allowed to get away with killing." Counters Amsterdam: "The answer can hardly be found...