All 45 Uses of
impersonal
in
Atlas Shrugged
- It was as if a shutter were slammed down, and what remained was a face without expression, impersonal, indifferent and empty.†
Chpt 1.1
- She studied that smile with a cold, impersonal curiosity.†
Chpt 1.4
- Yet there had always been an odd sense of distance between them, the sense of a closed door; there was an impersonal quality in his manner, something within him that could not be reached.†
Chpt 1.4
- He had risen and stood courteously, smiling down at her; it was a cold smile, impersonal and unrevealing.†
Chpt 1.5
- He bowed, courteously, impersonally, the movement of his body matching the distinguished formality of his clothes.†
Chpt 1.6 *
- She spoke with polite, impersonal precision.†
Chpt 1.7
- A flicker of astonishment rose and died in her eyes; she answered without change in the impersonal tone of her voice, "I am building a branch line with rails of Rearden Metal, which-"†
Chpt 1.7
- It had remained blank while Dagny explained to him, in the clear, impersonal tone of a business interview, the formation and purpose of her own railroad company.†
Chpt 1.7
- Her voice was pronouncing the words with impersonal precision.†
Chpt 1.7
- Now he was contemplating, impersonally and for the first time, the real heart of terror: being delivered to destruction with one's hands tied behind one's back.†
Chpt 1.7
- She turned to look at him and he saw the light of an inner smile, while her face remained solemnly grave; it was the most eloquently personal glance he had ever seen directed at himself, while she answered in a quiet, impersonal voice, "Mr.†
Chpt 1.9
- It was an impersonal glance, not intended to invite conversation; but she felt certain that he had long since noted her New York suit, her high-heeled pumps, her air of being a woman who did not waste her time; his cold, observant eyes seemed to tell her that he knew she did not belong here and that he was waiting to discover her purpose.†
Chpt 1.10
- His voice was clear, impersonally cordial.†
Chpt 1.10
- He said it with impersonal deference.†
Chpt 1.10
- He heard her clear, impersonal voice asking for an appointment to see him.†
Chpt 2.1
- I had to call on you, because it is a matter that involves someone's mind, a very great mind, and"-she spoke impersonally, in the manner of rendering exact justice-"and you are the only great mind left in this field."†
Chpt 2.1
- "I know," he said-and there was beauty in the impersonal gentleness of his voice.†
Chpt 2.1
- The sense of numbness seemed impersonal, as if its root were neither in him nor in her; as if it were the act of sex that now belonged to a realm which he had left.†
Chpt 2.1
- He had added, in the monotone of reciting some impersonal, statistical report, "The newspapers are yelling that coal is now the most crucial commodity in the country.†
Chpt 2.2
- She looked at close range into the gun-metal eyes that seemed cold and intense at once, the eyes that looked at her directly with a polite, impersonal curiosity.†
Chpt 2.2
- Among the many things that Lillian resented, the impersonal politeness of Dagny's face was the one she resented most.†
Chpt 2.2
- …in the crowd, they could not see him, they could not tell to whom he was selling his secret or whether he had enough of his cunning left to make it a trade with those who held favors-but they saw the wake of his passage spreading through the room, the sudden cuts splitting the crowd, like the first few cracks, then like the accelerating branching that runs through a wall about to crumble, the streaks of emptiness slashed, not by a human touch, but by the impersonal breath of terror.†
Chpt 2.2
- He said it sternly, without emotion, as an impersonal verdict upon himself.†
Chpt 2.3
- The candlelight moved over his motionless face as over a portrait; the portrait bore an expression of impersonal courtesy.†
Chpt 2.4
- There was none, except that his look of attentive interest seemed intensified; he listened as if he were held by some impersonal, scientific curiosity.†
Chpt 2.4
- The voice slowed down and added in an impersonal, reflective manner, as if the words were not addressed to anyone, "Of course, I'd have the problem of maintaining a certain social position …. it's not my fault if I'll be embarrassed by a family name associated with a millionaire…… I would need enough money for a year or two …. to establish myself in a manner suitable to my-"†
Chpt 2.4
- A shudder of pity ran through her body and ended in the movement of shaking her head: she did not know for which of the two men the pity was intended, but it made her unable to speak and she shook her head over and over again, as if trying desperately to negate some vast, impersonal suffering that had made them all its victims.†
Chpt 2.9
- Her voice was impersonal and hard.†
Chpt 3.1
- He did not hold her in the impersonal manner of a man carrying a wounded woman.†
Chpt 3.1
- It was an impersonal feeling, she did not look at him as at a man, but as at an animated work of art-and it seemed to be a stressed indignity of the outer world that a perfection such as his should be subjected to the shocks, the strains, the scars reserved for any man who loved his work.†
Chpt 3.2
- She studied Galt's face intently, but she could find no clue, only a closed, impersonal look, either of determination or of control, that tightened the skin of his cheekbones and the line of his mouth.†
Chpt 3.2
- "If you will hire me," she said, her face severely polite, her tone harshly clear, impersonal and businesslike, "I shall cook your meals, clean your house, do your laundry and perform such other duties as are required of a servant-in exchange for my room, board and such money as I will need for some items of clothing.†
Chpt 3.2
- What are you laughing at?" he asked, seeing the look of relief, of silent laughter that did not seem to be directed at his words-and then, before she answered, he smiled suddenly, as if he had guessed the answer, she saw some particular, intensely personal quality in his smile, which was almost a quality of insolent intimacy-in contrast to the calmly impersonal, casual manner with which he went on.†
Chpt 3.2
- "Not many," she answered simply, neither as boast nor flattery, but as an impersonal tribute to the exacting values involved.†
Chpt 3.2
- He glanced at her and added slowly, a slight emphasis as sole change in the impersonal tone of his voice, "No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.†
Chpt 3.2
- She looked at the faces of the four men in the soft twilight of Mulligan's living room: Galt, whose face had the serene, impersonal attentiveness of a scientist-Francisco, whose face was made expressionless by the hint of a smile, the kind of smile that would fit either answerHugh Akston who looked compassionately gentle-Midas Mulligan, who had asked the question with no touch of rancor in his voice.†
Chpt 3.2
- Then, regaining the manner of impersonal detachment, she asked, "Suppose I were to tell you that my decision is final and that I am never to join you?"†
Chpt 3.2
- …sufficient degree of malice to cause a new gopher trap to be brought into the world, that he, too, was only the pawn of a silent machine-a machine that had no center, no leader, no direction, a machine that had not been set in motion by Dr. Ferris or Wesley Mouch, or any of the cowed creatures in the grandstands, or any of the creatures behind the scenes-an impersonal, unthinking, unembodied machine, of which none was the driver and all were the pawns, each to the degree of his evil.†
Chpt 3.3
- I've never tried to hide that I came from the slums," she said in the simple, impersonal tone of a factual correction.†
Chpt 3.4
- When she faced him at the table, when she saw the earnest, questioning directness of his eyes and the severely literal simplicity of his words, she dropped all attempts at casual prodding, she told him what she wanted to know and why, briefly, impersonally, not appealing for help or for pity, only for truth.†
Chpt 3.4
- He told her the whole story, quietly, impersonally, pronouncing no verdict, expressing no opinion, never encroaching on her emotions by any sign of concern for them, speaking with the shining austerity and the awesome power of facts.†
Chpt 3.4
- Rearden leaned back in his chair, his eyes attentive, but fixed on space, as if looking at a not too distant distance, then he asked, with an odd note of quietly impersonal amusement, "Will you tell me just one thing, boys: what is it you're counting on?†
Chpt 3.6
- The confident skill of his movements, his manner of firing, with no time wasted to take aim, but with the kind of casual abruptness that never misses a target, made him look like a hero of Western legend-and Rearden watched him with detached, impersonal pleasure, as if the battle of the mills were not his any longer, but he could still enjoy the sight of the competence and certainty with which men of that distant age had once combatted evil.†
Chpt 3.6
- He said it without emphasis, in the same impersonal tone of practical calculation as the rest.†
Chpt 3.8
- Calmly and impersonally, she, who would have hesitated to fire at an animal, pulled the trigger and fired straight at the heart of a man who had wanted to exist without the responsibility of consciousness.†
Chpt 3.10
Definition:
-
(impersonal) not responsive to individual persons