# CXCI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A brief aphorism suggesting that happiness is lost when one criticizes it, and sorrow is lost when one accepts it.

## Key lines

> Happiness is lost by criticising it; sorrow by accepting it.

If you analyze happiness too closely, it disappears; if you embrace sorrow, it too fades away.

_The chapter is a single aphoristic statement on the nature of happiness and sorrow._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/cxci
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters