I think this is very important. Dr. Funk & Lewis said:
Words are the tools of thinking. It naturally follows, then, that the more words you have at your command, the clearer and more accurate your thinking will be. Words are your medium of exchange, the coin with which you do business with all those around you. With words you relate to people, communicate your feelings and thoughts to them, influence them, persuade them, control them. In short, through words you shape your own destiny. For your words are your personality; your vocabulary is you.
Words are explosive. Phrases are packed with TNT. A single word can destroy a friendship, can start or end a marital battle, can land a large order. The right phrases in the mouths of clerks have quadrupled the sales of a department store. The wrong words used by a campaign orator have lost an election. Armies fight for phrases: “Make the world safe for democracy”; “V for Victory”; “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Words have changed the direction of history. Words can also change the direction of your life. They can raise a man from a mediocrity to a success. For words can make you great.
You have, perhaps, learned to know many words more intimately. And any new word that you learn in your life will add amazingly to your power to think. Once a man thinks--really thinks--he has little competition. You may remember that the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw one time said that few people think more than two or three times a year. He claimed that he had made an international reputation by thinking as often as once a week! And please remember that there is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking.
So continue with your word study. Watch for new words at all times. Never be content until you know the meaning of a strange one. Make it your own possession. Use it in a letter, in conversation. List it in your pocket notebook, with its common meaning, its pronunciation, and a sentence in which it is used. Have a little mental rehearsal on those words now and again while you are walking along the street. Carry on an imaginary conversation. An intelligent argument, by the way, will give your new words a real workout. In such a challenge, a sharply accurate knowledge of the exact meanings of words is invaluable. These words are your language; it belongs to you, and the more you master it, the more secure you will feel in every aspect of your personal, social, and professional or business life.
And I deeply agreed them.
Words are the tools of thinking. It naturally follows, then, that the more words you have at your command, the clearer and more accurate your thinking will be. Words are your medium of exchange, the coin with which you do business with all those around you. With words you relate to people, communicate your feelings and thoughts to them, influence them, persuade them, control them. In short, through words you shape your own destiny. For your words are your personality; your vocabulary is you.
Words are explosive. Phrases are packed with TNT. A single word can destroy a friendship, can start or end a marital battle, can land a large order. The right phrases in the mouths of clerks have quadrupled the sales of a department store. The wrong words used by a campaign orator have lost an election. Armies fight for phrases: “Make the world safe for democracy”; “V for Victory”; “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Words have changed the direction of history. Words can also change the direction of your life. They can raise a man from a mediocrity to a success. For words can make you great.
You have, perhaps, learned to know many words more intimately. And any new word that you learn in your life will add amazingly to your power to think. Once a man thinks--really thinks--he has little competition. You may remember that the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw one time said that few people think more than two or three times a year. He claimed that he had made an international reputation by thinking as often as once a week! And please remember that there is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking.
So continue with your word study. Watch for new words at all times. Never be content until you know the meaning of a strange one. Make it your own possession. Use it in a letter, in conversation. List it in your pocket notebook, with its common meaning, its pronunciation, and a sentence in which it is used. Have a little mental rehearsal on those words now and again while you are walking along the street. Carry on an imaginary conversation. An intelligent argument, by the way, will give your new words a real workout. In such a challenge, a sharply accurate knowledge of the exact meanings of words is invaluable. These words are your language; it belongs to you, and the more you master it, the more secure you will feel in every aspect of your personal, social, and professional or business life.
And I deeply agreed them.
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