Paramount /ˈperəˌmount/ Adjective of vital importance How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Arid /ˈerəd/ Adjective dried, parched, dusty The will to win… the will to achieve…goes dry and arid without continuous renewal. Vince Lombardi (1913-1917)

Wisdom /ˈwizdəm/ Noun noun 1. knowledge and understanding of what is proper or reasonable Patience is the companion of wisdom. Saint Augustine (354-430) 2. understanding, insight The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Socrates (470 BC – 390 BC) 3. the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment A loving heart is the truest wisdom. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

National /ˈnaSHən(ə)l,ˈnaSHn(ə)l/ Adjective of or pertaining to a country A national language is a band of national union. Noah Webster (1758-1843)

Melancholy /ˈmel(ə)nˌkälē/ Adjective/Noun adjective having a feeling of deep sadness A melancholy-looking man, he had the appearance of one who has searched for the leak in life’s gas-pipe with a lighted candle. The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (1914), by P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) noun a feeling of deep sadness All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind... Read More

Oxymoron /ˌäksəˈmôrˌän/ Noun a figure of speech combining two opposite or antithetical terms A cautious creative is an oxymoron. George Lois (1931-2022)

Formation /fôrˈmāSHən/ Noun 1. a creation, the process of being formed Education has for its object the formation of character. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) 2. an arrangement of something In the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone. Anonymous

Anonymous /əˈnänəməs/ Noun of unknown name There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy – by being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Metaphor /ˈmedəˌfôr/ noun a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of in terms of another Examine Language; what, if you except some few primitive elements (of natural sound), what is it all but Metaphors, recognized as such, or no longer recognized? Sartor Resartus (1834) by Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)