Word: shrewd
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...work in a businesslike way. I have no desire to play with Cambridge politics," he states, "and if I have to bend with the political winds, I'm going to have tough sailing." So far, these political winds have been faint rustlings, but observes Curry with a shrewd grin, "maybe I'm on an enforced honeymoon...
...schools to revised zoning laws--Curry, thanks to a number of years as administrator of Boston Latin and other schools, has enough ability to push it through. Although he is not too well versed in local politics and inherits a split CCA and a split City Council, he is shrewd enough to avoid serious trouble. His main problem is rising costs--a problem, it seems, that afflicts all governments save the Federal variety--and regrettably he is not noted as a particularly brilliant financeer...
...poohed Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.'s threats that it will sue anyone who tries to market the oil. Said the W.SJ.: "Some oilmen think the British case wouldn't stand up in U.S. courts." Most U.S. oilmen found such a proposition hard to believe. Jones is too shrewd an operator to take on Great Britain, the U.S. State Department and Anglo-Iranian all at once. Furthermore, Cities Service does not have the spare tankers or refineries, now working at capacity, to handle an extra 100,000 bbls...
Even while running a busy law firm. Strong kept an attentive eye on the arts. His diary provides an informal cultural history of 19th century New York, written from the viewpoint of an enlightened conservative. It is crammed with shrewd comments on the music of Beethoven ("the Byron of Musicians") and Mozart ("the king of Melody"), brightened by impromptu reviews of Jenny Lind's singing ("marvelously executed") and Edwin Booth's acting ("carefully studied"). Strong found time to read the classics of his day as they appeared, and appraised them with instinctive good sense...
...rich pages devoted to the war years that Strong's diary reaches its climax. His jeremiads against Northern politicians, his shrewd portraits of the hesitant McClellan, the mediocre Burnside and the tough-skinned Grant, his succinct and often masterful summaries of battles that had taken place a few days before-all these make his diary a major work of contemporary history...