Word: dictum
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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This is accomplished in a series of extraordinary scenes between Hoffman and Henry that form the entire middle stretch of the movie and well illustrate F. Scott Fitzgerald's dictum that "action is character." Together these two actors-one a movie star, the other a little boy with no previous acting experience-create what is probably the most credible father-son relationship ever seen in an American film. As Ted and Billy slowly come to terms with each other, there is none of the cuteness or sentimentality that so often clots movies about parents and children...
...these bright volumes have their share of chills and favors, and the giver may wonder whether sentences might occasionally be too advanced or pictures a bit demanding. Stop worrying. This season, as always, it is well to heed the dictum of Ogden Nash...
...that the policy on women is an act "in fidelity to the example of the Lord." That means in effect that if Jesus had wanted women priests he would have chosen a female apostle. (Some Protestants who take the Bible literally and oppose the ordination of women cite the dictum in the First Epistle of Paul to Timothy that women should not have "authority" over men in the church.) The ban on women appears for Roman Catholicism to be mainly a question of custom and discipline rather than doctrine. If so, a Pope would be free to change the rule...
...President cannot take away the curse of a controversial decision by hesitation in its execution. Use of military force must always be made with a prayerful concern for Bismarck's profound dictum: "Woe to the statesman whose reasons for entering a war do not appear so plausible at its end as at its beginning...
This system has resulted in a political stability rare for Latin America; Mexico has not faced an attempted coup in more than 60 years. But the P.R.I.'s dominance has also provided ample documentation of Lord Acton's dictum that power tends to corrupt. Says an experienced Mexican attorney: "When a Mexican official gets an important post, he steals from it instead of serving in it. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is." From policemen to Cabinet officers, officials routinely ask for and get bribes, ranging from the $2 that will persuade a traffic cop to tear...