Painters cultivate a similarly receptive attitude towards nature, but lay themselves open to receive a different impression of it.
"George Du Maurier, the Satirist of the Victorians"
T. Martin Wood
But Lady Russell was endowed with a peculiarly receptive mind, and she felt an interest quite natural and spontaneous in every subject which could interest educated and rational human beings-in art, literature, and science; in the history and the growth of all countries; in the condition of the poor and the struggling throughout the world; in every effort made by knowledge, benevolence, and enlightened purpose for the benefit of humanity.
"Lady-John-Russell"
MacCarthy, Desmond
I believe the wicked old doges of Venice used similar methods when they wished to put their enemies into a receptive frame of mind and did not care to resort to physical torture.
"The Gray Phantom's Return"
Herman Landon