DEFT DEFINITIONS - Part 1

Here are some Deft Definitions from my collection.
ABNORMAL In matters of thought and conduct to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested; wherefore this lexicographer advises a striving towards a straighter resemblance to the average than hath to himself. Who so attaineth thereto shall have peace, the prospect of death and the hope of hell.
ABILITY Poor man's wealth.
ABORTION Love's labour lost.
ABSTINENCE Surety of temperance.
ABSURDITY A statement of belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinions.
ACCENT The soul of a language; that which gives feeling, warmth and sense of truth to it.
ACQUAINTANCE Aperson whom we know well enough to borrow from but not well enough to lend to; Adegree of friendship calledslight when it's object is poor or obscure and intimate whenhe is rich or famous.
ACTION Best interpreter of man's thoughts.
Parent of results.
Cure for grief.
ACUPUNCTURE A jab well done.
ADMIRATION Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.
A short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its objects.
ADOLESCENCE Emotional see-sickness.
Age at which children start bringing up their parent's.
ADOPTION A simple, cost effective, labour saving, emotionally satisfying path to parenthood.
ADULT A person who has stopped growing at both ends and has started growing in the middle.
ADULTERER One whose way is hedged with thorns, full of fears and jealousies, burning desires, and impatient waitings, tediousness of delays and sufferance of affronts and amazement of discovery.
ADVENTURER One who practices the art of the impossible.
ADVERSITY It has the effect of eliciting talents which in pros-perous circumstances would have lain dormant.
Appropriate balance in which to weigh friend-ship.
ADVERTISING Selling promises.
The science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
Ministers to the spiritual side of the business.
ADVICE A debt which the old owe to the young.
Something which the older generation is fond of giving to console themselves for being no longer in a position to set examples.
The softer it falls, the deeper it sinks and the longer it dwells.
Too valuable a thing to be retained withoneself - pass it on!
AFFECTION A spot in the geography of the mind.
AFFECTIONS They are like lightning, you cannot tell where they will strike till they have fallen.
AFTERMATH The next lesson after mathematics.
ALCOHOL A food well in advance of medical thought.
A liquid good for preserving almost everything except secrets and etiquettes.
ALIMONY The high cost of learning that you chose a wrong partner.
It is like paying for the auto after the wreck.
The high cost of Leaving.