Definition of Temperament
Temperament
Internal constitution; state with respect to the relative proportion of different qualities, or constituent parts.
Due mixture of qualities; a condition brought about by mutual compromises or concessions.
The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected.
Condition with regard to heat or cold; temperature.
A system of compromises in the tuning of organs, pianofortes, and the like, whereby the tones generated with the vibrations of a ground tone are mutually modified and in part canceled, until their number reduced to the actual practicable scale of twelve tones to the octave. This scale, although in so far artificial, is yet closely suggestive of its origin in nature, and this system of tuning, although not mathematically true, yet satisfies the ear, while it has the convenience that the same twelve fixed tones answer for every key or scale, C/ becoming identical with D/, and so on.
The peculiar physical and mental character of an individual, in olden times erroneously supposed to be due to individual variation in the relations and proportions of the constituent parts of the body, especially of the fluids, as the bile, blood, lymph, etc. Hence the phrases, bilious or choleric temperament, sanguine temperament, etc., implying a predominance of one of these fluids and a corresponding influence on the temperament.
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Temperament Quotations
A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.
Oscar Wilde
Music inflames temperament.
Jim Morrison
Heart and head are the constituent parts of character; temperament has almost nothing to do with it, and, therefore, character is dependent upon education, and is susceptible of being corrected and improved.
Giacomo Casanova
Artistic temperament is the disease that afflicts amateurs.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.
John Ruskin
There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.
Henry Van Dyke
Being good is just a matter of temperament in the end.
Iris Murdoch
It is my fate and perhaps my temperament to sign agreements with fools.
E. M. Forster
When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.
Denis Diderot
The cut of a garment speaks of intellect and talent and the color of temperament and heart.
Thomas Carlyle
Temperament Translations
temperament in Dutch is temperament
temperament in German is Temperament
temperament in Swedish is temperament
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