A man of volatile temper, he drove himself and his children forward relentlessly.
He is a man of discriminating temper and shrewd judgment, formerly the highest of civil servants and adviser to six prime ministers, and still much consulted.
But Paterson Joseph goes much further than most by showing Brutus to be a man of quixotic temper swathed in self-regard.
Even Werner, the scholar who turned detective, comes over as an obsessive (as well he might do with a murdered daughter), a man of violent temper who had broken a young Chinese man's nose for daring to talk to Pamela.
A man of action, tempered in battle, Washington pledged "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" when he took office, and he did so forcefully--even, at times, ignoring the letter of the Constitution "to preserve, protect and defend" the spirit of that document.
And he might have joined the Monteverdi Choir as well but for an abrasive encounter that swells Sir John's reputation as a man of legendary ill temper.
The central character, Piscator, is not simply a champion and expositor of the art of angling but a man of tranquil, contented temper, pious and sententious, with a relish for the pleasures of friendship, verse and song, good food, and drink.
"I am... a man of mild dispositions, of command of temper, of an open, social, and cheerful humour, capable of attachment, but little susceptible of enmity, and of great moderation in all my passions".
He described Mr. Knight as a man of integrity, flawed by his temper but worthy of "one last chance".
