I think love is the most unbelievable, and critical, thing in civilization. Everything else is very mechanical and predictable, but love, you can't catch it.
Interpretation
Love is a fundamental and unpredictable element of humanity, unlike predictable aspects of life.
In this quote, Ambrose Bierce expresses the idea that love is an extraordinary and essential force in civilization. He contrasts love's unpredictable nature with the mechanical and routine aspects of life, highlighting its significance and the difficulty of defining or capturing it in a tangible way.
In practice
Using this quote in a Valentine's Day speech to emphasize the importance 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.
Can't you see? Every step I have taken, since I was that child on the bridge, has been to bring myself closer to you.
I am happier when I love than when I am loved. I adore my husband, my son, my grandchildren, my mother, my dog, and frankly, I don't know if they even like me. But who cares? Loving them is my joy.
I have often prayed for you like this Let me have her
I regard as a mortal sin not only the lying of the senses in matters of love, but also the illusion which the senses seek to create where love is only partial. I say, I believe, that one must love with all of one's being, or else live, come what may, a life of complete chastity.
Never in the world does hatred cease by hatred; hatred ceases by love.
Believing that you are unworthy of love and belonging or that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong, is deadly.
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