Litigant. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea of sacrificing something significant for a potentially minimal gain.
Ambrose Bierce's quote uses the metaphor of a litigant, someone who is embroiled in legal battles, to express the often futile and self-destructive nature of fighting for something that may ultimately not be worth the cost. The imagery of giving up 'skin' for the hope of keeping 'bones' suggests that people may risk their well-being or integrity in pursuit of something that may not offer substantial rewards, reflecting a deeper commentary on human behavior in conflicts and negotiations.
In practice
This quote might be shared during a legal seminar to illustrate the risks involved in legal disputes.
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.
The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.
We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not.
And make each day a critic on the last.
Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
Judaism boasts of no exclusive revelation of eternal truths that are indispensable to salvation, of no revealed religion in the sense in which that term is usually understood.
It is the style of idealism to console itself for the loss of something old with the ability to gape at something new.
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