UGLINESS, n. A gift of the gods to certain women, entailing virtue without humility.
Interpretation
The quote humorously suggests that some women are gifted with ugliness, which ironically brings them virtue but lacks humility.
Ambrose Bierce's quote plays with the concept of ugliness, framing it as a divine gift that bestows virtue upon certain women, yet paradoxically highlights the absence of humility. This clever juxtaposition serves to poke fun at societal standards of beauty and the complexities of virtue, suggesting that true moral character can exist independently of physical appearance.
In practice
This quote can be used to lighten the mood during a discussion on beauty standards.
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 coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it.
I am not funny. The writers were funny. My directors were funny. The situations were funny⦠What I am is brave. I have never been scared. Not when I did movies, certainly not when I was a model and not when I did I Love Lucy.
How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?
No matter what she did with her hair it took about three minutes for it to tangle itself up again, like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Which, no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
When I was ten, I wrote an essay on what I would be when I grew up and said I would be a professional soccer player and a comedian in off season.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.