MATERIAL, adj. Having an actual existence, as distinguished from an imaginary one. Important.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the significance of tangible realities over mere thoughts or fantasies.
Ambrose Bierce's definition of 'material' highlights the importance of concrete existence in contrast to the abstract or imaginative. It suggests a focus on what is real and substantial, encouraging individuals to recognize and value the things that have actual presence and relevance in their lives, rather than getting lost in dreams or ideals that do not manifest in reality.
In practice
In a discussion about philosophical ideas, this quote can be used to emphasize the value of tangible outcomes over theoretical concepts.
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.
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, youβll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought youβll be in some kind of sit-down action.
What cities, as great as this, have... promised themselves immortality! Posterity can hardly trace the situation of some. The sorrowful traveller wanders over the awful ruins of others... Here stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile; temples and theatres stood here, now only an undistinguished heap of ruins.
Sometimes, I am also identified as a civil rights leader or a human rights activist. I would also like to be thought of as a complex, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human being with a rich storehouse of experiences, much like everyone else, yet unique in my own way, much like everyone else.
We know that the wildest and most moving dramas are played not in the theatre but in the hearts of ordinary men and women.
Religion says earn your life. Secular society says create your life. Jesus says, 'My life for your life.
The world was conquered through the understanding of dogs; the world exists through the understanding of dogs.
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