language. What we think molds the words we use, and the words we use react
upon our thoughts. Hence a study of words is a study of ideas, and a
stimulant to deep and original thinking.

We should not, however, study "sparkling words and sonorous phrases" with
the object of introducing them consciously into our speech. To do so would
inevitably lead to stiltedness and superficiality. Words and phrases
should be studied as symbols of ideas, and as we become thoroughly
familiar with them they will play an unconscious but effective part in our
daily expression.

We acquire our vocabulary largely from our reading and our personal
associates. The words we use are an unmistakable indication of our thought
habits, tastes, ideals, and interests in life. In like manner, the
habitual language of a people is a barometer of their intellectual, civil,
moral, and spiritual ideals. A great and noble people express themselves
in great and noble words.

Ruskin earnestly counsels us to form the habit of looking intensely at
words. We should scrutinize them closely and endeavor to grasp their
innermost meaning. There is an indefinable satisfaction in knowing how to
choose and use words with accuracy and precision. As Fox once said, "I am
never at a loss for a word, but Pitt always has the word."

All the great writers and orators have been diligent students of words.
Demosthenes and Cicero were indefatigable in their study of language.
Shakespeare, "infinite in faculty," took infinite pains to embody his
thought in words of crystal clearness. Coleridge once said of him that
one might as well try to dislodge a brick from a building with one's
forefinger as to omit a single word from one of his finest passages.