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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 19

All Quotes Accidents Adversity Affection Age Aging Alcohol Army Art Assumption Atheism Attitude Authority Beauty Belief Boundaries Business Certainty Change Character Cheating Childhood Children Choices Church Clarinet Confusion Cooking Country Creation Critics Culture Cynicism Death Democracy Desire Devil Diplomacy Disappointment Doubt Drinking Dying Earth Education Ego Energy Envy Eternity Evidence Evil Excellence Expectations Failure Faith Fame Family Fashion Fear Feelings Finance Food Friendship Funeral Funny Future Genius Giving God Gold Growth Guilt Happiness Hatred Heart Heaven Hell History Home Honor Hope House Ignorance Imagination Independence Injustice Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Joy Judging Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Latin Leadership Learning Liars Liberty Life Literature Logic Losing Love Lying Marriage Math Military Money Morality Motherhood Music Nature Nihilism Office Opportunity Optimism Passion Past Patriotism Peace Philosophy Pleasure Politics Power Prejudice Preparation Pride Property Prosperity Purpose Quality Reality Religion Responsibility Revenge Revolution Running Sacrifice School Science Silence Sin Skins Son Soul Spirituality Spring Stupidity Style Success Suffering Taxes Temptation Theology Time Truth Understanding Violence Virtue Wall War Water Wealth Wife Wine Wisdom Work Worship Writing Youth

A leech who, having penetrated the shell of a turtle only to find that the creature has long been dead, deems it expedient to form a new attachment to a fresh turtle.

A leech who, having penetrated the shell of a turtle only to find that the creature has long been dead, deems it expedient to form a new attachment to a fresh turtle.

Turtles, Attachment, Long

Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.572, Library of America

GUILLOTINE, n. A machine which makes a Frenchman shrug his shoulders with good reason.

Science, Machines, Reason

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.81, 谷月社

Revelation: a famous book in which St. John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing.

Bible, Book, Done

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.200, University of Georgia Press

A person of greater enterprise than discretion, who in embracing an opportunity has formed an unfortunate attachment.

Opportunity, Attachment, Enterprise

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2397, Delphi Classics

SEINE, n. A kind of net for effecting an involuntary change of environment. For fish it is made strong and coarse, but women are more easily taken with a singularly delicate fabric weighted with small, cut stones.

Change, Strong, Taken

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.213, University of Georgia Press

FORCE, n. "Force is but might," the teacher said p/ "That definition's just."/ The boy said naught but throught instead,/ Remembering his pounded head:/ "Force is not might but must!"

Teacher, Boys, Justice

RITE, n. A religious or semi-religious ceremony fixed by law, precept or custom, with the essential oil of sincerity carefully squeezed out of it.

Religious, Oil, Law

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.203, University of Georgia Press

Adolescence: A stage between infancy and adultery.

Inspirational, Teenage, Adultery

MARTYR, One who moves along the line of least reluctance to a desired death.

Death, Moving, Lines

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2460, Delphi Classics

POLICE, n. An armed force for protection and participation.

Police, Protection, Force

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.184, University of Georgia Press

PRICE, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for the wear and tear of conscience in demanding it.

Tears, Plus, Reasonable

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.171, 谷月社

VIRTUES, n.pl. Certain abstentions.

Virtue, Certain, Certainty

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.230, 谷月社

Empty wine bottles have a bad opinion of women.

Food, Wine, Bottles

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2696, Delphi Classics

Scribbler, n. A professional writer whose views are antagonistic to one's own.

Writing, Views

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2513, Delphi Classics

POCKET, n. The cradle of motive and the grave of conscience. In woman this organ is lacking; so she acts without motive, and her conscience, denied burial, remains ever alive, confessing the sins of others.

Pockets, Alive, Sin

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.166, 谷月社

ADDER, n. A species of snake. So called from its habit of adding funeral outlays to the other expenses of living.

Science, Snakes, Funeral

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.12, University of Georgia Press

ACCUSE, v.t. To affirm another's guilt or unworth; most commonly as a justification of ourselves for having wronged him.

Guilt, Justification, Wronged

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.8, 谷月社

INDISCRETION, n. The guilt of woman.

Guilt

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.105, 谷月社

THEOSOPHY, n. An ancient faith having all the certitude of religion and all the mystery of science.

Religion, Mystery, Ancient

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.220, 谷月社

Respectability, n. The offspring of a liaison between a bald head and a bank account.

Bank Accounts, Liaison, Offspring

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.183, 谷月社

Intolerance is natural and logical, for in every dissenting opinion lies an assumption of superior wisdom.

Lying, Opinion, Assumption

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1223, Delphi Classics

NEWTONIAN, Pertaining to a philosophy of the universe invented by Newton, who discovered that an apple will fall to the ground, but was unable to say why. His successors and disciples have advanced so far as to be able to say when.

Philosophy, Fall, Science

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.149, 谷月社

Gout, a physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient

Names, Physicians, Gout

The Devil's Dictionary

An auctioneer is a man who proclaims with a hammer that he has picked a pocket with his tongue.

Business, Men, Pockets

Cynic's Word Book (1906) p. 24

An old wine-bibber having been smashed in a railway collision, some wine was poured on his lips to revive him.

Wine, Lips, Connoisseur

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.40, University of Georgia Press

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