IDLENESS, n. A model farm where the devil experiments with seeds of new sins and promotes the growth of staple vices.
Interpretation
Idleness is portrayed as a breeding ground for sin and negative behavior.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce suggests that idleness is not merely a lack of activity, but rather a fertile ground where harmful behaviors and vices can thrive. By comparing idleness to a farm where new sins are cultivated, Bierce emphasizes the dangers of inactivity and the potential for moral decay that can arise when individuals are not engaged in productive pursuits.
In practice
During a speech on the importance of self-discipline.
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.
Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.
Evil people naturally assume that you will use that power exactly as they would use it.
I don't believe in the war god of the Israelites. He's a bogeyman. Jesus preached the golden rule, by and large.
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
I don't think exactly like a professional economist. I think about economics and economic ideas, but somewhat like an outsider.
Death focuses the mind on the things that really matter: why are we here, and what should we do?
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