Word: instinctive
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...himself the master of a style which so fascinated the reader by its clearness and pungency that he was able by its aid to break down the distinction between technical and popular appeal, and render abstract subjects intelligible to the common man. Whatever he wrote, said, or did, was instinct with abounding life. Whether readers agreed with his books or dissented, all perceived that they vitalized their subjects. Several obliged a kind of new departure of human thought in their respective fields, the most notable being "The Principles of Psychology," 1890; "Talks to Teachers on Psychology," 1899; "The Varieties...
...till their leaders see what that conduct really means. These leaders are gentlemen, and hence capable of seeing it; but the tradition of recent baseball is not the tradition of recent baseball is not the tradition of gentlemen, and the gentlemen are overpowered by the tradition. That the gentlemanly instinct at Harvard dies hard is shown by the half-hearted and inefficient manner in which our illegitimate cheering is conducted--as if those who lead it knew better, but not quite enough better to abstain. It has therefore not even the merit of whole-souled barbarity...
...they disclose themselves and imply their own backgrounds. Oftener, however, the higher technique that would have saved him from some of his confusions and changes of key, for example, and that each man must learn for himself in his chosen profession, evades him, and naturally enough. Then his theatrical instinct that carries character, episode and feeling across the footlights, and his command of emotion save him. The best of the playwrights in their twenties see and feel, much more than they design and elaborate. Most of their characters are bound to be sketches, as Mr. Sheldon's in the main...
...does Harvard alone attest his greatness. His mental precision and unusual capacity for lucid and apt discrimination have enabled him to treat public questions with singular authority and with an unerring instinct for the aspirations and needs of society. He has touched no subject without illuminating it; he has stood firmly for collegiate and civic righteousness; and so sane have been his counsels, so masterly his power of statement, that he not only commands today the attention of America, but he is honored by scholars and thinkers throughout the world. He has set an example to all by the simplicity...
...abate his ardor in its defense. His intellectual, as his personal, sympathies were wide. His glad recognition and generous encouragement of merit endeared him to workers in many fields. He was a just censor, a wise counsellor, not sparing of himself if he might help others. His critical instinct was distinguished for its delicacy, his taste refined to severity, his judgment clear and sober. His mind was ripened into the temper of a true cosmopolitanism by study of the best books, by knowledge of his own and of other countries, and by acquaintance and enduring friendships with leading...