His quiet, consistently thoughtful demeanor belied a fierce commitment to principle and a brilliant mind.
Many of the Democrats who loudly lamented the loss of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash had for years considered his fierce commitment to principle to be, at best, a little weird.
The ignominious end for Lord Triesman of his rocky two-year tenure as the Football Association's first independent chairman was a very English coup, not the result of some fierce row over principle with the vested interests on the FA board, but a kiss-and-tell sting which delivered its tabloid sponsor more loose talk than it could have hoped for.
The university president responded with a fierce declaration of principle: "It is my view that as long as our students can be orderly about it they should have freedom to discuss any problem that presents itself and in which they are interested".
"When I read it, I thought, 'God, this is such a good man.' He's from another generation, he doesn't talk a lot, his loyalty is fierce and his principles are as well.
Craig Robinson lends Curtis a firm manner and bluff humor that find a reflection in Morris's blend of boldness and compunction, of fierce will and stern principle.
They are fierce deficit hawks in principle, yet when specific cuts to Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, or Social Security, a retirement fund, are raised, they turn into pacifists.
But the lesson of their careers — one we should remember before pontificating about what personality Judge Sotomayor "ought" to have — is that great justices need independence and a fierce commitment to constitutional principle.
Yet they are also expected (particularly by MPs and activists) to display solid principles and fierce loyalty to their tribe.
Mr. Toomey was the serious one, and a leader of a pack of "pit bull" legislators who became fierce advocates for conservative principles.
