AFFLICTION, n. An acclimatizing process preparing the soul for another and bitter world.
Interpretation
Afflictions teach us resilience and prepare us for life's challenges.
In this quote, Ambrose Bierce presents affliction as a necessary process that acclimatizes the soul, suggesting that the challenges and hardships we face in life ultimately prepare us for the difficulties that lie ahead. It reflects a philosophical perspective on suffering, viewing it as a fundamental aspect of human existence that shapes our character and moral resilience.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, you could say, 'As Ambrose Bierce wisely noted, affliction is what prepares our souls for the challenges ahead.'
PALM, n. A species of tree . . . of which the familiar "itching palm" ("Palma hominis") is most widely distributed . . . . This noble vegetable exudes a kind of invisible gum, which may be detected by applying to the bark a piece of gold or silver.
Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.
Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'
Disobey n:To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command
NOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only by a process of reasoning - which is a phenomenon.
PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.
Pride is at the bottom of a great many errors and corruptions, and even of many evil practices, which have a great show and appearance of humility.
Almost nobody believes anymore that infants are insensate blobs. It seems both mad and evil to deny experience and feeling to a laughing, gurgling creature.
Part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to laws of space and time.
In the 21st century, we can't create security by building walls.
Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always.
One could laugh at the world better if it didn't mix tender kindliness with its brutality.
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