Optimism - the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.
Interpretation
Optimism is the belief that everything has beauty, even the unpleasant aspects of life.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce suggests that optimism involves a unique perspective that finds beauty even in what might typically be considered ugly or unpleasant. It highlights the philosophical stance that our perceptions are shaped by our beliefs and that embracing a positive outlook can transform our understanding of the world around us.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage a positive mindset, one might say, 'As Ambrose Bierce notes, optimism allows us to see beauty in everything, even in challenges.'
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.
At a certain level of suffering or injustice no one can do anything for anyone. Pain is solitary.
you mean machines are like humans?" I shook my head. "No, not like humans. With machines the feeling is, well, more finite. It doesn't go any further. With humans it's different. The feeling is always changing. Like if you love somebody, the love is always shifting or wavering. It's always questioning or inflating or disappearing or denying or hurting. And the thing is, you can't do anything about it, you can't control it. With my Subaru, it's not so complicated.
Power should be a check on power.
In a liquid modern life there are no permanent bonds, and any that we take up for a time must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again, as quickly and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change - as they surely will in our liquid modern society, over and over again.
Try as you may, you cannot put the Lord in your debt. For every time you try to do His will, He simply pours out more blessings upon you.
To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different thing from being a passive object.
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