LECTURER, n. One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.
Interpretation
This quote humorously critiques lecturers as those who take money while providing information, often testing the patience of their students.
Ambrose Bierce's quote uses satire to portray lecturers as individuals who enjoy financial gain while engaging students in a somewhat tiresome manner. It highlights the often frustrating relationship between educators and students, suggesting that lecturers extract resources from their pupils while also demanding their attention and patience.
In practice
In a discussion about education funding, you might quote this to criticize the financials involved in higher education.
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.
Public libraries are the sole community centers left in America. The degree to which a branch of the local library is connected to the larger culture is a reflection of the degree to which the community itself is connected to the larger culture.
When I first started studying Greek, one of my absolute favorite parts was realizing that so many English words had these old, secret roots. Learning Greek was like being given a super-power: linguistic x-ray vision.
To this generation I would say: Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
My father paid for my education; then he made it clear that I was on my own.
In the future, how we educate our children may prove to be more important than how much we educate them.
Let the reader find that he cannot afford to omit any line of your writing because you you have omitted every word that he can spare.
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