pugnacity

• “Thus, for McDougall, the tender emotion is the emotional aspect of the instinct of pity, anger of the instinct of pugnacity, which is, as an impulse, the tendency to strike and destroy.”

  Human Traits and their Social Significance

• “Man is once for all a fighting animal; centuries of peaceful history could not breed the battle-instinct out of us; and our pugnacity is the virtue least in need of reinforcement by reflection, least in need of orator's or poet's help.”

  Memories and Studies

• “He has the kind of pugnacity which prompts a cur or a puppy to attack a”

  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 71, September, 1863

• “Pawlenty, on the other hand, pursues a path of pugnacity while attackin 'the Dems just for the sake of polarizin.”

  Huckabee trails Romney, Palin in cash haul

• “The marketing data industry has a tendency toward winner-take-all monopoly (e.g., the Nielsen TV ratings), but in the scanner data business, the DOJ prevented the two leaders from merging in 1987 and the pugnacity of the two competitors caused a subsequent price war that went on for over a decade, with disastrous effects on the stock price.”

  Hal Varian on Googlenomics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

• “It was also apparent in speeches before Hu's visit by Clinton and Geithner, both of whom were blunt to the point of pugnacity.”

  The Washington Post: Obama welcomes Hu by urging partnership, respect for human rights

• “It was also apparent in speeches by Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, both of whom were blunt to the point of pugnacity.”

  The Washington Post: Hu faces an Obama administration more hard-nosed about Chinese government

• “Demanding to know whether the PM would disown the pugnacity of the No to AV campaign's depiction of the deputy PM, Huhne's determination was deemed inappropriate for cabinet.”

  The Guardian: Our pick of the week: The story, the stat, the quote, the tweet

• “Pulling together his famous eloquence, erudition, wit, and pugnacity into an hour-long floor speech, Benton argued it was simply silly to suggest the Rio Grande march had caused the war.”

  Simon & Schuster: A Country of Vast Designs

• “This argument about Reid's lack of pugnacity is a familiar one from progressives.”

  The Huffington Post: Ross K. Baker: Reid's Problem Isn't Nevada

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