Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
Interpretation
The future is often idealized as a time of success and happiness.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce reflects a common perception of the future as a time when everything aligns perfectly — our endeavors flourish, our relationships are genuine, and we find contentment. It highlights the human tendency to hope and project optimism onto what is yet to come, suggesting that people often envision the future as a resolution to present struggles.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing change, one could use this quote to inspire hope for the future.
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.
Ce que je sais de la morale, c'est au football que je le dois. (I know of morality, it is football that I owe.)
Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused.
We must remember that the people of all the States are entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the citizen of the several States. We should bear this in mind, and act in such a way as to say nothing insulting or irritating. I would inculcate this idea, so that we may not, like Pharisees, set ourselves up to be better than other people.
It is intolerable that in our country citizens should feel so upset and under assault because of their religious choice that they would conclude that they have to hide.
These principles have given me a way of explaining naturally the union or rather the mutual agreement [conformité] of the soul and the organic body. The soul follows its own laws, and the body likewise follows its own laws; and they agree with each other in virtue of the pre-established harmony between all substances, since they are all representations of one and the same universe.
The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking.
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