Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than to the patient.
Interpretation
Love is described as a madness that can be cured by marriage or distancing oneself from the causes of that insanity.
Ambrose Bierce's quote humorously defines love as a form of temporary insanity that can be cured through marriage or by removing oneself from the conditions that create it. He suggests that love, perceived as a disorder or disease, predominantly affects those in civilized societies, often implying that simpler societies are free from such emotional turmoil due to their straightforward lifestyles. Furthermore, he whimsically points out that the affliction can often be more dangerous to those who attempt to treat it than to those who are in love.
In practice
This quote can be used in a wedding speech to humorously acknowledge the madness of love.
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.
Human love serves to love those dear to us but to love one's enemies we need divine love.
When my love swears that she is made of truth, _x000D_ _x000D_ I do believe her, though I know she lies.
So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused.
Ye may have a greater prince, but ye shall never have a more loving prince.
I know of only one duty, and that is to love.
There are as many loves as there are hearts.
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