In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity.
Interpretation
Every person has multiple facets to their character, representing different instincts and traits.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce highlights the complexity of human nature, suggesting that within each individual lies a blend of contrasting qualities represented by a tiger, pig, ass, and nightingale. The varying degrees of these traits lead to the diversity of character observed in different people, illustrating how our inner conflicts and harmonies shape who we are.
In practice
This quote can be used in a psychology class to discuss the complexity of human behavior.
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.
We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror.
That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions, and were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions.
Holiness of life is not the privilege of a chosen few - it is the obligation, the call, and the will of God for every Christian.
I congratulate myself on not having arrived into the world until the present time. This age suits my taste.
To hear of a thousand deaths in war is terrible, and we 'know' that it is. But as it registers on our hearts, it is not more terrible than one death fully imagined.
The duty of holding a Neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of Peace and amity toward other Nations.
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