GUILLOTINE, n. A machine which makes a Frenchman shrug his shoulders with good reason.
Interpretation
The quote humorously describes the guillotine as a device that justifies a Frenchman's nonchalance in the face of danger.
Ambrose Bierce's quote about the guillotine uses dark humor to comment on the historical context of the French Revolution, where the guillotine became a symbol of execution and fear. By emphasizing that it makes a Frenchman shrug with good reason, he suggests that the reality of such a machine breeds a certain resignation or acceptance of extreme circumstances among those affected by it.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of historical events on culture.
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.
The highly motivated people in society are the ones causing all the trouble. It's not the lazy unmotivated folks sitting in front of a TV eating potato chips who bother anyone.
Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing six or seven.
I can think of nothing more boring for the American people than to have to sit in their living rooms for a whole half hour looking at my face on their television screens.
It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth.
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name Bzjxxllwcp is pronounced Jackson.
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