Mad; adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech, and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual. It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that they themselves are sane.
Interpretation
The quote defines madness as a form of intellectual independence and challenges societal norms about sanity.
Ambrose Bierce's quote explores the concept of madness as a divergence from collective norms and standards imposed by society. He suggests that those who are labeled as 'mad' may simply be individuals who think independently and do not conform to the beliefs and actions dictated by the majority. Furthermore, he criticizes the authority of those who deem others mad, implying that such judgments are often made without true understanding or evidence of sanity, thereby questioning the validity of societal definitions of sanity and madness.
In practice
In a discussion on mental health, one might invoke this quote to highlight how society's views on sanity can stigmatize unconventional thinkers.
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.
fanaticism is the only way to put an end to the doubts that constantly trouble the human soul.
When we understand our relationship to God, we also understand our relationship to one another.
I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay.
No iron can pierce the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
All mankind is one volume. When one man dies, a chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language. And every chapter must be translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice. But God's hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall live open to one another
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