Litigant. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea of sacrificing something significant for a potentially minimal gain.
Ambrose Bierce's quote uses the metaphor of a litigant, someone who is embroiled in legal battles, to express the often futile and self-destructive nature of fighting for something that may ultimately not be worth the cost. The imagery of giving up 'skin' for the hope of keeping 'bones' suggests that people may risk their well-being or integrity in pursuit of something that may not offer substantial rewards, reflecting a deeper commentary on human behavior in conflicts and negotiations.
In practice
This quote might be shared during a legal seminar to illustrate the risks involved in legal disputes.
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 newspaper stories were like dreams to us, bad dreams dreamt by others. How awful, we would say, and they were, but they were awful without being believable. They were too melodramatic, they had a dimension that was not the dimension of our lives. We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
Man's chief delusion is his conviction that there are causes other than his own state of consciousness.
Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
A man doesn't say I will starve myself to death to keep from starving, or that he'd spend all of his money to save money. Why should he be willing to die for the privilege of living?
The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual.
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