Consult: To seek approval for a course of action already decided upon.
Interpretation
Consulting often implies seeking validation for decisions already made.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce highlights the irony in the act of consulting, suggesting that it often serves merely as a formality rather than a genuine inquiry into opinions or advice. In many cases, individuals seek the approval of others for decisions they have already resolved, questioning the true nature and purpose of such consultations in decision-making processes.
In practice
In a business meeting discussing project strategies, one might say, 'As Bierce noted, we often consult just to seek approval for decisions we've already set.'
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.
It would have been difficult to design a path out of communism worse than the one that has been followed.
Fixity is always momentary. But how can it always be so? If it were, it would not be momentary - or would not be fixity.
Human history is a Gaian dream.
Beloved," said the Glorious One, "unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.
The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it.
Or about how when you're a child, to stop you from following the crowd you're assaulted with the line "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?" but when you're an adult and to be different is suddenly a crime, people seem to be saying, "Hey. Everyone else is jumping off a bridge. Why aren't you?
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