The portrait that had developed, fragmentarily but consistently, was the portrait of a man to whom serious thinking is alien enough that the making of a decision inhibits, when it does not forestall, any ability to review the decision in the light of new evidence.

The pessimism of the young is defiant, anxious to confess or even exaggerate its ostensible gloom, and so exuberant as to reveal the fact that it regards its ability to face up to the awful truth as more than enough to compensate for the awfulness of that truth.

one who is thoroughly human, who affects no dignity, and who is endowed with real ability, genuine worth, and sterling honesty -- all dedicated to secure the best interests of the country he has loved and served so long.

Not only is this kind of duplication wasteful, but it gives the combined system the ability to take freight traffic away from the New York Central and other railroads serving the area.

`` The reason you are in the ring today is to show your ability to present to any judge the most attractive picture of your dog that the skillful use of your aids can produce.

Related to micelle formation is the technologically important ability of detergent actives to congregate at oil - water interfaces in such a manner that the polar ( or ionized ) end of the molecule is directed towards the aqueous phase and the hydrocarbon chain towards the oily phase.

Thus, the Span of its ossification was shortened and the center's ability to `` catch up '' in ossification is demonstrated.

It is easy for the teacher to rationalize that the child who is not achieving in accordance with his known ability is just plain lazy, or that the child who lacks interest in school, who dislikes the teacher, or who is overaggressive is a hopeless delinquent.

Perhaps the very important question -- What is, then, exactly the role of kinesthetic sensations in the patient's ability to recognize forms and shapes by means of the tracing movements when he is actually looking at things??

Just yesterday we had met and talked with a living writer, a contemporary of the dead poet, who is known for his ability of manipulating his ideas and his craft more advantageously.

This term refers to the ability of a material to resist bending stress and is determined by measuring the load required to cause failure by bending.

`` To be creative is to have the ability to cause to exist -- to produce where nothing was before -- to bring forth an original production of human intelligence or power ''.

While man shares this procreative function with all his predecessors in the evolutionary process, he is the only animal with a true non-instinctive and conscious creative ability.

Most striking indeed is this beyond-normal ability to put a finger on `` pre-conscious '' moods and to clarify them.

Of course, it can be argued that an ability to write English correctly and with some degree of elegance is a marketable skill.

Time perspective -- the ability to plan for the future and to postpone gratifying immediate wants in order to achieve long-range objectives -- is more easily developed if, from infancy on, the individual has been able to rely on and trust people and the world in which she lives.

`` The church's ability to change her methods is going to determine her ability to meet the challenge of this hour ''.

As a creative enterprise, its abilities are primarily in `` swallowing '' creative enterprises developed outside its own organization ( an ability made possible by us, and almost mandatory ).

Amadee may have owed this partly to his relationship with the king, but Othon, who at sixty seems still to have been a simple knight, merited his position solely by his own character and ability.

Some years ago this Class was judged by celebrities who knew nothing of what was required of a Junior's ability to show a dog.

The relinquishing by philosophy of pretentious claims to empirical priority gives it an ability to treat problems of meaning and truth which in the past it was unable to examine because of its missionary attitude to knowledge of more humble sorts.

The Hopkinsian universal disinterested benevolence, although holding to original sin and the doctrine of election, inspired its adherents to heroic endeavours for others, looked for the early coming of the Millennium, and was paralleled by the confidence in man's ability cherished by the Unitarians, Emerson, and the Transcendentalists.

Field Marshal Slim is more impressed by the courage of Japanese soldiers than he is by the ability of their commanders.

`` Behind that Charlie Chaplin moustache and that truant lock of hair that always covered his forehead, behind the tirades and the sulky silences, the passionate orations and the occasional dull evasive stare, behind the prejudices, the cynicism, the total amorality of behavior, behind even the tendency to great strategic mistakes, there lay a statesman of no mean qualities: Shrewd, calculating, in many ways realistic, endowed -- like Stalin -- with considerable powers of dissimulation, capable of playing his cards very close to his chest when he so desired, yet bold and resolute in his decisions, and possessing one gift Stalin did not possess: The ability to rouse men to fever pitch of personal devotion and enthusiasm by the power of the spoken word ''.

A unique feature is their ability to feed by suction using only one half of the lower jaw at a time.

The game is unusual in that no dice are used in resolving conflicts or player actions ; instead a simple diceless system of comparative ability, and narrative description of the action by the players and gamemaster, is used to determine how situations are resolved.

The ability to modify the hardness of steel by heat treatment had been known since 1100 BC, and the rare material was valued for use in tool and weapon making.

As they do not receive Holy Orders in the Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental Churches, they do not possess the ability to ordain any religious to Holy Orders, or even admit their members to the non-ordained ministries to which they can be installed by the ordained clergy ( females do not serve as clergy anyway, per formal church teaching, in these churches ), nor do they exercise the authority they do possess under canon law over any territories outside of their monastery and its territory ( though non-cloistered, non-contemplative female religious members who are based in a convent or monastery but who participate in external affairs may assist as needed by the diocesan bishop and local secular clergy and laity, in certain pastoral ministries and administrative and non-administrative functions not requiring ordained ministry or status as a male cleric in those churches or programs ).

* Human free will is limited by original sin, though God's prevenient grace restores to humanity the ability to accept God's call of salvation.

However, at the base of this crack is a round void called an ampulla which would have functioned to distribute force over a larger surface area, hindering the ability of the " crack " formed by the serration to propagate through the tooth.

They suggested that tyrannosaurids transmitted the infection by biting each other, and that the infection impaired their ability to eat food.

Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity of " Amazing Grace " is due to the absence of any mention of God in the lyrics until the fourth verse ( by Excell's version, the fourth verse begins " When we've been there ten thousand years "), and that the song represents the ability of humanity to transform itself instead of a transformation taking place at the hands of God.

The destruction of the whole Theban army is said to only have been averted by the ability of Epaminondas, who was serving in the campaign, but not as general.

Machiavelli goes on to reason that Agathocles ' success, in contrast to other criminal tyrants, was due to his ability to mitigate his crimes by limiting them to those that " are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects ".

At the molecular level, an antigen can sometimes be characterized by its ability to be " bound " at the antigen-binding site of an antibody.

The NewTek Video Toaster was made possible by the genlock ability of the Amiga.

Aphasia ( or, from ancient Greek ἀφασία ( ἄφατος, ἀ-+ φημί ), " speechlessness ") is an impairment of language ability.

The ancient historian Tacitus describes Domitian's first speech in the Senate as brief and measured, at the same time noting his ability to elude awkward questions.

Philosophers in ancient societies were interested in how humans acquired the ability to understand and produce language well before empirical methods for testing those theories were developed, but for the most part they seemed to regard language acquisition as a subset of man's ability to acquire knowledge and learn concepts.

Opinions were much divided in ancient times as to his personal character ; but the testimony as to his administrative and diplomatic ability was unanimous.

Most cultures, however, recognize the ability of individuals to withhold certain parts of their personal information from wider society-a figleaf over the genitals being an ancient example.

In ancient Greece, the earliest mention of oratorical skill occurs in Homer's Iliad, where heroes like Achilles, Hektor, and Odysseus were honored for their ability to advise and exhort their peers and followers ( the Laos or army ) in wise and appropriate action.

Because of the enormous military successes of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the legion has long been regarded as the prime ancient model for military efficiency and ability.

This triggered the war because Helen was famous for her beauty throughout Achaea ( ancient Greece ), and had many suitors of extraordinary ability.

Because it has the ability to kill certain bacteria, terebinth resin was widely used as a preservative in ancient wine.

The theory of " Cognitive capitalism " asserts that cognitive ability is the crucial factor which creates wealth in modern economies, and that the geographical factors which have been necessary in ancient societies are no longer so important.

In ancient Roman religion, Providentia is a divine personification of the ability to foresee and make provision.

This is a clear testament to the comparable levels of ability between this ancient race and the gods.

Cats in ancient Egypt were revered highly, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice, rats-which threatened key food supplies-and snakes, especially cobras.

Anansi is part of a lineage of heroes whose powers stem from an ancient amulet, which grants powers of illusion and the ability to adhere to any surface.

Agnosia ( from ancient Greek ἀγνωσία, " ignorance ", " absence of knowledge ") is a loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells while the specific sense is not defective nor is there any significant memory loss.

In ancient times, girdling was a standard practice to increase the set and size of seedless grapes, until the discovery of the plant hormone gibberellic acid, and its ability to do the same thing with less labor.

In ancient and feudal society, the ability to appropriate surplus-value from trade in commodities and capital was usually strongly regulated, and limited by the state and religious authorities ; a universal market where almost everything could be bought and sold freely using money did not exist.

* Magic In " Shadow ", Glory cast an ancient spell that caused an ordinary snake to grow to a massive size and granted it the ability to see the true form of The Key, in addition to making it completely loyal to her.

* Dominion, by john h. eickert is a novel set in Africa where a witchdoctor uses his ability to change into rahtetu ( the Bantu word for lion man ) to safeguard an ancient forest.

Some theories posit that in far ancient times, humans had a third eye on their foreheads which provided them the ability to peer into spiritual realms.

: Article describing the mathematical ability of ancient civilizations.

The word had been used differently since the time of the ancient Greeks to mean the ability to receive stimulation from one or more of the five bodily senses.

Called " sea locusts " by ancient Assyrians, " prawn killers " in Australia and now sometimes referred to as " thumb splitters " – because of the animal's ability to inflict painful gashes if handled incautiously – mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning, or dismemberment.

It is not uncommon for birds to represent the sky in ancient religions, due to their ability to fly.