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Examples
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She took the great English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft as her lode-star, and began to campaign for the state to log the rate of 'honour' killings, because nobody was even bothering to count.
Johann Hari: The Refugee Who Rocked Islam: an Exclusive Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2008
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Science had been his mistress; ambition his lode-star.
Initials Only 2003
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It is on the cultural level that the feminine is often all-but (to adapt McGann's qualifier) co-opted, her "eye" made the "lode-star of thy soul," for instance in the unreconstructed Petrarchanism of these so-called skeptical poets (The Skeptic 149).
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Intuition is the indispensable lode-star, promising new goals to be reached by a labyrinth of paths, the majority of which are blind alleys.
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In the thought that thence-forward Apollonius should be her lode-star, and that if she acted as he did she would remain pure and safe from evil, she fell asleep and smiled in her slumber like a carefree child.
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Consumed with the desire for emancipation, for sharing the benefits and attractions of the new life around them, the Jews discarded the hope for an independent national existence in Palestine, which had been their lode-star throughout the ages.
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His lode-star was success and when the forward speed of success threw out its selectors and went suddenly into reverse the liquidation of his affairs was conducted by the firm of
Men of Affairs Roland Pertwee
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Work is supposed to be the centre round which school life revolves -- the hub of the school wheel, the lode-star of the schoolboy's existence, and a great many other things.
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It is the main-spring of many acts we loudly praise, the lode-star of men we apotheosize, is oftimes the warp and woof even of the mantle of charity, which, like a well-filled purse -- or a tariff compromise -- covers a multitude of sins.
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With love to God and man as his lode-star, the difficulties, privations, hardships of early life have proved stepping stones to eminent ecclesiastical position, wide public confidence, and untold influence for good.
bilby commented on the word lode-star
"Taking insects as lode-stars of the analysis concerning the essence of animality will inevitably orient the inquiry toward instinctual behaviors, leaving aside phenomena such as animal learning and intelligence, because instinctual behaviors are precisely highly stereotyped behaviors."
- Christiane Bailey, Kinds of Life.
December 31, 2012
ruzuzu commented on the word lode-star
Bilby! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see a link like that coming from a talking animal, but I guess I was. I hadn't ever read any continental philosophy about animals--I especially liked the bit about movement. I remember being a kid and watching a gnat zig-zagging through motes of dust--its movement made me think it had intention (sometimes it would move against the currents of air in a way that the motes of dust couldn't). Also, I'm always interested in Husserl and Heidegger and the whole nazi betrayal thing. Also, also, I just caught Starship Troopers on TV the other night (more bugs, more fascists). I wish there had been some mention of Descartes instead of just Aristotle, and I wish there had been something comparing/contrasting the idea that rocks and plants could have some sort of monadic soul. But that's probably just me. What a fun read!
Do you read stuff like this all the time? Can you post more?
December 31, 2012
bilby commented on the word lode-star
I might, pending their wordnikability.
December 31, 2012
ruzuzu commented on the word lode-star
Wonderful! Thank you.
January 2, 2013