I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)  

middling Definition: (adjective) Lacking exceptional quality or ability. Synonyms: mediocre, average, fair Usage: The performance was middling at best, but for some reason the audience still rose to its feet at the end of the show for a standing ovation. […]

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850) When her Poems of Passion was published in 1883, Wheeler gained notoriety for writing “immoral” poetry. Her subsequent works showed a marked change in content, focusing on temperance, religion, and sentimental, inspirational verse. Her best known […]

One can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one? Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)  

demonstrable Definition: (adjective) Capable of being demonstrated or proved. Synonyms: provable Usage: The mother showed a demonstrable lack of concern for the general welfare of her children, so they were taken away from her. Discuss.  

Daniel Boone (1734) Boone was a legendary American frontiersman who blazed a permanent trail across the Appalachian Mountains in 1775. Known as “Wilderness Road,” it became a major route for westward migration in the US. Boone also established Boonesboro, Kentucky, […]

The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)  

countrified Definition: (adjective) Characteristic of rural life. Synonyms: rustic Usage: The house was very handsome, with a lovely countrified garden. Discuss.  

Antonio Canova (1757) Canova was an Italian sculptor who was extremely influential in the development of neoclassicism. He produced his first important sculpture, Daedalus and Icarus, in 1779 and was accused of making plaster casts from live models because his […]

The things that happen here do not seem to mean anything; they mean something somewhere else. Somewhere else retribution will come on the real offender. Here it often seems to fall on the wrong person. Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936)  

pertain Definition: (verb) Be relevant to. Synonyms: concern, bear on, come to, touch on, refer, relate Usage: All the evidence that pertains to the accident was submitted to the court. Discuss.  

Natalie Clifford Barney (1876) Though she was a writer for all of her adult life, Barney is not widely known today for her poetry, plays, novels, or epigrams. Instead, she is remembered for her strong support of female writers and […]

It has been observed that one’s nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of others, from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) […]