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. . . DICTIONARY see: "KNOWLEDGE" for related links Adams: But Sir, how can you do this in three years? Samuel Johnson: Sir, I have no doubt I can do it in three years. Adams: But the French Academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their dictionary. Johnson: Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman. --James Boswell (1740—1795) Scottish lawyer, diarist, and author. _Life of Samuel Johnson_ [1791] Words fascinate me. They always have. For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank. --Eddie Cantor (1882—1964) American comedian, actor, singer, and songwriter. _The Way I See It_ [1959] San Francisco's posh Stanford Court Hotel has never lost a Bible but since it put dictionaries in its 402 rooms last month, 41 have been swiped. --"Chicago Sun-Times" [12 April 1987] [To two women who commended him for on the omission of vulgar words from his Dictionary:] What! my Dears! then you have been looking for them? --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. Quoted in Henry G. Beste _Personal and Literary Memorials_ [1829]. As sheer casual reading matter, I still find the English dictionary the most interesting book in our language. --Albert Jay Nock (1870—1945) American libertarian author and social critic. _Memoirs of a Superfluous Man_, ch. 1, pt. 4 [1943] [On having an inflatable life jacket named after her:] I've been in "Who's Who," and I know what's what, but it'll be the first time I ever made the dictionary. --Mae West (1893—1980) American stage and film actress. Letter to the RAF [early 1940s], in Fergus Cashin _Mae West_ [1981]. - Like a lot of husbands throughout history, Daniel Webster would sit down and try to talk to his wife. But as soon as he would start to say something, his wife said, "And what's that supposed to mean?" Thus Webster's Dictionary was born. ----- lexicography [lek-suh-KAH-gruh-fee], noun: 1. The writing or compiling of dictionaries; the editing or making of dictionaries. 2. The principles and practices applied to writing dictionaries.  ;void(0)) DIET . . see: "APPEARANCE" see: "THE BODY" see: "EXERCISE" see: "FAT" see: "FOOD & DRINK" for other related links The first law of dietetics seems to be: if it tastes good, it's bad for you. --attributed to Isaac Asimov (1920—1992) Russian-born American author. Those two great medicines: Diet and Self-Control. --Max Bircher [Maximilian Oskar Bircher] (1867—1939) Swiss physician. In Gordon Young, _Doctors Without Drugs_ [1962]. Just think of all those women on the Titanic who said, "No, thank you," to dessert that night. And for what! --attributed to Erma Bombeck (1927—1996) American humorist. I'm trying to lose some weight so I've gone on a garlic diet. You eat garlic with everything. It doesn't make you lose any weight but people stand further back and you look thinner at a distance. --attributed to Noel Britton The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook. --attributed to Julia Child (1912—2004) American chef, television personality, and author. Subdue your appetites my dears, and you've conquered human nature. --Charles Dickens (1812—1870) English novelist. _Nicholas Nickleby_, ch. 5 [1839] One meal a day is enough for a lion, and it ought to suffice for a man. --George Fordyce (1736—1802) Scottish physician. Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_, p. 125 [10th ed. 1884]. I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on. --Jean Kerr (1923—2003) American writer, [wife of Walter Kerr]. _The Snake Has All the Lines_ [1958] For a quick pick-me-up, take a plain yogurt, a banana and a few ice cubes in a blender and puree until smooth. Throw it at a skinny person. --attributed to Susan Maushart Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my deary, kiss me! and be quiet. --Lady Mary Wortley Montagu [née Pierrepont] (1689—1762) English writer. "A Summary of Lord Lyttleton's Advice to a Lady" If thou wouldst preserve a sound body, use fasting and walking; if a healthful soul, fasting and praying; walking exercises the body, praying exercises the soul, fasting cleanses both. --Francis Quarles (1592—1644) English poet. _Enchyridion_ [Charles Baldwyn, London, 1822 ed.] He was so skinny, you could actually see through him in a bright light. At the beach, he once drank too much strawberry pop and looked like a tall thermometer. --Mike Royko (1932—1997) American journalist. _One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko_ [The University of Chicago Press, 1999] Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. --William Shakespeare (1564—1616) English dramatist. _Julius Caesar_, I, ii [1599] - My wife is on a diet, and since she's on a diet, Home isn't home any more; She won't give me potatoes, she stuffs me with tomatoes, Where are the pies I adore? This diet thing's an awful disgrace Why, I'm ashamed to look a grapefruit right in the face; My wife is on a diet, and since she's on a diet, I'm losing a pound every day! My wife is on a diet, and since she's on a diet, I'm just a bundle of nerves, When mine was big and stronger, I used to linger longer, I miss the detours and curves; When my arms I'd put 'round her hips, What a lot of fun I'd have in making two trips; My wife is on a diet, And since she's on a diet, she's gaining a pound every day! --"My Wife is On A Diet" (Tobias and Bennett) [1929 song] - [After recovering from being shot in the chest:] I have lost half a stone. The Lead Plan diet I call it. --attributed in 1989 to Frank Warren (b. 1952) British boxing promoter. - The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you're off it. --anon. Eat properly, exercise daily, follow all medical advice, die anyway. --anon. - The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out. - If you want to grow thinner, diminish your dinner. - He who stuffeth, puffeth. - Have you heard of the see-food diet? You see the food. You eat it. --anon. --- TRIVIA: Celery has negative calories — it takes more calories to eat and digest a piece of celery than the celery has in it. - ----- diaphanous (adj.) [dI-'æ-fê-nês] Thin and fragile, translucent, filmy or flimsy. gaunt (adj.) Thin and bony; angular. Synonyms: cadaverous, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted svelte (adj.) ['svelt] Slim, slender; elegant, graceful. ;void(0)) DIFFERENT/DIFFERENCES . . see: "INDIVIDUALITY" for related links One of the most common defects of half-instructed minds is to think much of that in which they differ from others, and little of that in which they agree with others. --Walter Bagehot (1826—1877) British economist and essayist. In "Economist" [11 June 1870]. People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. --H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American author. _Life's Little Instruction Book_ [1991] In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. --attributed to Coco Chanel (1883—1971) French fashion designer. There is more difference within the sexes than between them. --Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884—1969) English novelist. _Mother and Son_, ch. 10 [1955] We can all perceive the difference between ourselves and our inferiors, but when it comes to a question of the difference between us and our superiors we fail to appreciate merits of which we have no proper conceptions. --James Fenimore Cooper (1789—1851) American novelist. _The American Democrat_ [1838] How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese? --Charles de Gaulle (1890—1970) French soldier and statesman, President [1959—1969]. Quoted in Ernest Mignon _Les Mots du Général_ [1962]. A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. --Charles Dickens (1812—1870) English novelist. _A Tale of Two Cities_, bk. I, ch. 3 [1859] - One man's justice is another's injustice; one man's beauty another's ugliness; one man's wisdom another's folly. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) American philosopher and poet. _Essays_, First Series [1841], "Circles" The only sin which we never forgive in each other is difference of opinion. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) American philosopher and poet. _Society and Solitude_, ch. 9 [1870] - When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free. --Charles Evans Hughes (1862—1948) American professor of law, politician, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court [1930—1941]. Address at Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts [17 June 1925]. There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference. --William James (1842—1910) American philosopher. _The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy_ [1899] Stand with anybody that stands *right*. Stand will him while he is right and *part* with him when he goes wrong. --Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865) American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865]. Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Peoria, Illinois [16 October 1854]. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. --Bertrand Russell (1872—1970) British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate. _The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1914—1944_ [1968] The ae half of the warld thinks the tither daft. --Sir Walter Scott (1771—1832) Scottish novelist and poet. "Redgauntlet" [1824] If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. --Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862) American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher. _Walden_, ch. 18 [1854] It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse-races. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot. _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ [1894] ch. 19 epigraph: "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots. --Dame Rebecca West [Cecily Isabel Fairfiield] (1892—1983) British-Irish journalist, novelist, and critic. _Black Lamb and Grey Falcon_ [1941], as quoted in "Harpers" [1945]. - [On the difference between a diplomat and a lady:] When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. When he says perhaps, he means no. If he says no, he is not a diplomat. When a lady says no, she means perhaps. When she says perhaps, she means yes. But when she says yes, she is no lady. --an "old aphorism" in "The Independent" (NY) [10 April 1920] - ----- aberrant (noun) ['æ-bêr-ênt or ê-'ber-ênt] Deviating from the normal, abnormal. anomaly (noun) [ê-'nah-mê-li] A deviation from the rule or normality; an irregularity that cannot be classified. disparate (adjective) ['dis-pê-rêt] Incompatibly different or incongruous in character or make-up. heterogeneous [het-uh-ruh-JEE-nee-uhs], adjective: Consisting of dissimilar elements, parts, or ingredients -- opposed to homogeneous. Ex.: "According to the historian Albert Fein, New York embodied 'the challenge of a democratic nation's capacity to plan for and maintain an urban environment to meet the needs of a uniquely heterogeneous population.' " --Robert A. M. Stern, et al., _New York 1880_ heterodox [HET-uh-ruh-doks], adjective: 1. Contrary to or differing from some acknowledged standard, especially in church doctrine or dogma; unorthodox. 2. Holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines. maverick (noun) ['mæ-vêr-ik] An orphan calf or other animal that leaves the pack or herd. An outsider, an iconoclast or self-oriented person who lives by his or her own rules, often perceived as a danger or threat. Etymology: The eponym is Samuel Maverick (1803-1870), who let his unbranded cattle roam wild. Other ranchers, who "adopted" them, called them "mavericks." raffish (adj.) 1. Displaying a charming free-spirited disregard for the conventions of society or for approved behavior. 2. Displaying an exaggerated or obtrusive showiness. rara avis [RAIR-uh-AY-vis], noun; A rare or unique person or thing. sui generis [soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-], adjective: Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique. . . see: "UNHAPPINESS" for related links Quite often, people who mean well will inquire of me whether I ever ask myself, in the face of my diseases, "Why me?" I never do. If I ask "Why me?" as I am assaulted by heart disease and AIDS, I must ask "Why me?"about my blessings, and question my right to enjoy them. The morning after I won Wimbledon in 1975 I should have asked "Why me?" and doubted that I deserved the victory. If I don't ask "Why me?" after my victories, I cannot ask "Why me?" after my setbacks and disasters. --Arthur Ashe (1943—1993) American tennis player and the first black winner of a major men's single championship. _Days of Grace_, p. 326 [1993] In youth we run into difficulties, in old age difficulties run into us. --Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885) American humorist. Quoted in Donald Day _Uncle Sam's Uncle Josh_ [1972 ed.] He seems To have seen better days, as who has not Who has seen yesterday? --Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824) English Romantic poet and satirist. _Werner_, I, i [1822] The three things most difficult are—to keep a secret, to forget an injury, and to make good use of leisure. --Chilon (6th cent. B.C.) One of the Seven Sages of Greece. Attributed in "Herald of Truth" [Geneva, NY, 15 January 1836]. We come to know best what men are, in their worse jeopardies. --Samuel Daniel (1562—1619) English poet and dramatist. Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 54 [1886]. Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes around worrying about are of no importance whatsoever. --Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Blixen) (1885—1962) Danish writer. Quoted in Karen Payne _Between Ourselves: Letters Between Mothers and Daughters 1750-1982_ [1983]. When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hopes hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking. --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859—1930) Scottish-born writer of detective fiction. Quoted in _The American Bee Keeper_ [May 1895]. Difficulties are things that show what men are. --Epictetus (55—135) Greek philosopher. _The Discourses_, bk. I, ch. xxiv [c. 101 to 108] Diligence overcomes Difficulties; Sloth makes them. --Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) American politician, inventor, and scientist. _Poor Richard's Almanack_ [November 1755] The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832) German poet, novelist, and playwright. In _The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries_ [Pub. by the German Publication Society, 1913] p. 379. One day I sat thinking, almost in despair; a hand fell on my shoulder and a voice said reassuringly: cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and, sure enough, things got worse. --James Hagerty (1909—1981) Press Secretary to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In Robert Andrews _The Routledge Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 5 [1987]. The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy. --Helen Hayes (1900—1993) American actress. At age 83, as quoted in Robert Byrne _1911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said_ [1988]. Life is just one damned thing after another. --Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915) American editor, publisher, and author who died in the sinking of the "Lusitania." In "Philistine" [December 1909]. One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter. --James Earl Jones (b. 1931) American stage and screen actor. Voices and Silences_, ch. 24 "Journal" [1993] The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. --Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929—1968) American civil rights leader. _Strength to Love_ [1963] When the going gets tough, the tough get going. --Frank Leahy (1908—1973) Coached Notre Dame football team to 4 national championships. Quoted in _Daily Mail_ (Charleston, WV) [4 May 1954]. I must try not to let my own present unhappiness harden my heart against the woes of others! You too are going through a dreadful time. Ah well, it will not last forever. There will come a day for all of us when "it is finished." God help us all. --C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963) British scholar and novelist. _Letters to an American Lady_ [1967], "1 April 1957" Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882) American poet. "The Rainy Day", st. 3 [1842] Never stop because you are afraid — you are never so likely to be wrong. Never keep a line of retreat: it is a wretched invention. The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer. --Fridtjof Nansen (1861—1930) Norwegian polar explorer. Quoted in "Listener" [14 December 1939]. I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life, particularly if he has income and she is pattable. --Ogden Nash (1902—1971) American writer of humorous poetry. "I Do, I Will, I Have" l. 12 [1949] Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, it no longer matters. --Scott Peck (1936—2005) American author. _The Road Less Traveled_ [1978] "And the King wanted an inscription good for a thousand years and after that to the end of the world?" "Yes, precisely so." "Something so true and awful that no matter what happened it would stand?" "Yes, exactly that." "Something no matter who spit on it or laughed at it there it would stand and nothing would change it?" "Yes, that was what the king ordered his wise men to write." "And what did they write?" "Five words: THIS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY." --Carl Sandburg (1878—1967) American poet. _The People, Yes_ [1936] Difficulties strengthen the mind, as well as labor does the body. --Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.- 65 A.D.) Roman philosopher and poet. "Epistle V" How easy it is to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success! --Madame Swetchine [Sophie Soymanof] (1782—1857) Russian-born French writer and salon hostess. Quoted in (Count de Falloux (ed.), Harriet W. Preston (trans.) _Life and Letters of Madam Swetchine_, p. 112 [8th ed., 1875]. What is amusing now had to be taken in desperate earnest once. --Virginia Woolf (1882—1941) English novelist. _A Room of One's Own_ [1929] - About 850 B.C., Odysseus, the hero from Homer's "The Odyssey," faced a perilous nautical journey between Scylla, a terrifying sea monster, and Charybdis, a massive whirlpool. As Homer's story was passed down through the generations, it became immortalized in the metaphor, "Between Scylla and Charybdis," which was used to describe the careful path one must take to emerge from two troubling fronts. --"Between Scylla and Charybdis" John J. Castellani, in "The Wall Street Journal" [23 August 2005]. ----- quagmire (noun) 1. A soft marshy area of land that gives way when walked on. 2. An awkward, complicated, or dangerous situation from which it is difficult to escape. quandary [KWAHN-duh-ree; -dree], noun: A state of difficulty, perplexity, doubt, or uncertainty. Sisyphean (adj.) [si-sê-'fee-ên] Endlessly laborious and futile; also, related to Sisyphus, as "the Sisyphean story" travail [truh-VAYL; TRAV-ayl], noun: 1. Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion. 2. Agony; anguish. . . see: "CHARACTER" for related links Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them. --Aristotle (384—322 B.C.) Greek philosopher. Attributed in Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, p. 118 [1908 ed.]. Men possessing minds which are morose, solemn, and inflexible enjoy generally a greater share of dignity than of happiness. --Francis Bacon (1561—1626) English philosopher and essayist. Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Edge-Tools of Speech_, p. 107 [1886]. It is always dangerous to offend the dignity of the ignorant. --René Caillié (1799—1838) French explorer who was the first European to to visit Timbuktu and return. Quoted in Galbraith Welch _The Unveiling of Timbuctoo_ [1939]. The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others. --Dag Hammarskjöld (1905—1961) Swedish diplomat; served as the Secretary General of the U.N. [1953-1961]. _Markings_ [1955], tr. Leif Sjöberg and W.H. Auden [1964] Darling, a true lady takes off her dignity with her clothes and does her whorish best. At other times you can be as modest and dignified as your persona requires. --Robert Heinlein (1907—1988) American science-fiction writer. _Time Enough for Love_ [1973] A fit of anger is as fatal to dignity as a dose of arsenic is to life. --Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819—1881) American novelist, poet, and editor of "Scribner’s Magazine." Quoted in _The Literary News_ [February 1882]. Never bend your head! Always hold it high! Look the world straight in the face! --Helen Keller (1880—1968) American author and educator who was blind and deaf. To a five-year-old child, recalled on her death [1 June 1968]. Remember this, — that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life. --Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121—180) Roman emperor [161—180] and Stoic philosopher. _Meditations_, IV, 32 ----- decorum (noun) Dignity: dignity or good taste that is appropriate to a specific occasion. deign (verb) [deyn] To consider appropriate to one's dignity or standing. The antonym is disdain. . . see: "EFFORT" see: "PERSEVERANCE" see: "TRYING" see: "SUCCESS" for other related links - Diligence is the mother of good fortune. --Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616) Spanish novelist. _Don Quixote de la Mancha_, Pt. ii. Ch. 43 [1615] & see: Care and diligence bring luck. --Thomas Fuller (1654—1734) English writer and physician. Comp., _Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs_ [1732] & see: Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God giveth all things to industry. --Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) American politician, inventor, and scientist. "Poor Richard's Maxims" quoted in _Oxford Magazine_ [vol. I, 1768] - Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. --Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694—1773) British writer and politician. Letter to His Son [10 March 1746]. Diligence is the basis of wealth, and thrift the source of riches. --Chinese proverb I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time. --Charles Dickens (1812—1870) English novelist. _David Copperfield_, ch. 42 [1850] Diligence overcomes Difficulties; Sloth makes them. --Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) American politician, inventor, and scientist. _Poor Richard's Almanack_ [November 1755] Yes, there's such a thing as luck in trial law but it only comes at 3 o'clock in the morning. . . . You'll still find me in the library looking for luck at 3 o'clock in the morning. --Louis Nizer (1902—1994) English-born American lawyer. Quoted in "Reader's Digest" [October 1984]. I trimmed my lamp, consumed the midnight oil. --William Shenstone (1714—1763) English poet. _Elegies_, XI, st. 7 We live in the age of the overworked and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid. --Oscar Wilde (1854—1900) Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet. "The Critic as Artist," _Intentions_ [1891] ----- assiduous (adjective) [ê-'sid-ju-wês] Persistently diligent and attentive at some activity; ardent. expeditious [ek-spuh-DISH-uhs], adjective: Characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency. sedulous [SEJ-uh-luhs], adjective: 1. Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious. 2. Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance. end page | DANCING - DAY | DEATH - PAGE 1 (A-G) | DEATH - PAGE 2 (H-Z) | DEBATE - DEEDS | DECEPTION | DEFEAT - DELAY | DEMOCRACY | DENIAL - DESIRE | DESPAIR - DICKENS (CHARLES) | DICTIONARY - DILIGENCE | DINNER - DISABILITY | DISAGREEMENT - DISGUISE | DISHONESTY - DOCTORS | DOGS | (ON) DOING GOOD - DREAMS | DRESS - DRUNKENNESS | DUELS - DUTY | | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews | |
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