Temper
Temperare (to mix correctly) is the Latin origin of words like "temperature" and "tempering"; it and "tempo" come, in turn, from tempus (time or season). Thus, the word "temper" can refer (at least informally) to any time- and temperature-sensitive process (as for chocolate tempering or tempered glass), a material's thermo-mechanical history, or even its composition.
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Famous quotes containing the word temper:
“Our esteem for facts has not neutralized in us all religiousness. It is itself almost religious. Our scientific temper is devout.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“Can a free people restrain crime without sacrificing fundamental liberties and a heritage of compassion?... Let us show that we can temper together those opposite elements of liberty and restraint into one consistent whole. Let us set an example for the world of a law-abiding America glorying in its freedom as well as its respect for law.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“My father was a gentleman of many virtues,—but he had a strong spice of that in his temper which might, or might not, add to the number.—’Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause,—and of obstinacy in a bad one.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)