"Childhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age."

Life

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on life by Ambrose Bierce resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in life is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American author, journalist, and poet. A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction. For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. S. T. Joshi speculates that "he may well be the greatest satirist America has ever produced, and in this regard can take his place with such figures as Juvenal, Swift, and Voltaire." His war stories influenced Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway and others, and he was considered an influential and feared literary critic. In recent decades, Bierce has gained wider respect as a fabulist and poet.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Ambrose Bierce

"A dream nurtured by daily toil will inevitably outshine a wish born of idle hope. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows."

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"It is a humble truth that do not measure life by the breaths you take, but by the moments that stir your soul — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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"New Orleans life is such a night life. The thing that comes up very often is that our day essentially doesn't start until midnight or 2 in the morning."

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