It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of others from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.
Interpretation
The quote humorously suggests that people often take pleasure in meddling in others' business rather than focusing on their own.
Ambrose Bierce's quote wittily highlights the human tendency to be more engaged with the problems and affairs of others instead of concentrating on our own lives. By stating that the nose is happiest when involved in others' matters and inferring that it lacks the sense of smell, Bierce cleverly illustrates how curiosity and gossip may bring more joy than personal reflection or responsibility.
In practice
A humorous way to break the ice at a gathering where people are gossiping.
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.
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.
Housework, if you do it right, will kill you.
But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.
Have you ever noticed that the lawyer always smiles more than the client?
I was terrible at straight items. When I wrote obituaries, my mother said the only thing I ever got them to do was die in alphabetical order.
Calvin: Trick or treat! Adult: Where's your costume? What are you supposed to be? Calvin: I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak... Am I scary, or what?
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