I think love is the most unbelievable, and critical, thing in civilization. Everything else is very mechanical and predictable, but love, you can't catch it.
Interpretation
Love is a fundamental and unpredictable element of humanity, unlike predictable aspects of life.
In this quote, Ambrose Bierce expresses the idea that love is an extraordinary and essential force in civilization. He contrasts love's unpredictable nature with the mechanical and routine aspects of life, highlighting its significance and the difficulty of defining or capturing it in a tangible way.
In practice
Using this quote in a Valentine's Day speech to emphasize the importance of love.
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 prize of all too precious you.
For you see, each day I love you more. Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
Some will protest that in a world with so much human suffering, it is something between eccentric and obscene to mourn a dog. I think not. After all, it is perfectly normal—indeed, deeply human—to be moved when nature presents us with a vision of great beauty. Should we not be moved when it produces a vision—a creature—of the purest sweetness?
Poirot: Do not allow Hate into your heart, for it will make a home there._x000D_ _x000D_ Jackie: If Love cannot live there, Hate works just as well.
It is not that love is blind. It is that love sees with a painter's eye, finding the essence that renders all else background.
The giving and receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
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