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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 21

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

INFALAPSARIAN, n. One who ventures to believe that Adam need not have sinned unless he had a mind to - in opposition to the Supralapsarians, who hold that that luckless person's fall was decreed from the beginning.

INFALAPSARIAN, n. One who ventures to believe that Adam need not have sinned unless he had a mind to - in opposition to the Supralapsarians, who hold that that luckless person's fall was decreed from the beginning.

Believe, Fall, Mind

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.143, ReadHowYouWant.com

EXPOSTULATION, n. One of the many methods by which fools prefer to lose their friends.

Friendship, Fool, Method

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.61, 谷月社

Prejudice - a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.

Mean, Support, Religion

Devil's Dictionary (1911) p. 264

If every hypocrite in the United States were to break his leg to-day the country could be successfully invaded to-morrow by the warlike hypocrites of Canada.

Country, Hypocrite, United States

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales”, p.238, tredition

A man who piously shuts himself up to meditate upon the sin of wickedness and to keep it fresh in his mind joins a brotherhood of awful examples.

Men, Brotherhood, Mind

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.32, 谷月社

Self-restraint is indulgence of the propensity to forgo.

Self, Restraint, Indulgence

Laziness. Unwarranted repose of manner in a person of low degree.

Funny, Sloth, Degrees

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.69, Courier Corporation

YOUTH, n. The Period of Possibility, when Archimedes finds a fulcrum, Cassandra has a following and seven cities compete for the honor of endowing a living Homer.

Life, Cities, Honor

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.242, University of Georgia Press

Genius - to know without having learned; to draw just conclusions from unknown premises; to discern the soul of things.

Soul, Genius, Conclusion

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1216, Delphi Classics

A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring.

Hands, Bird

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.114, Courier Corporation

RACK, n. An argumentative implement formerly much used in persuading devotees of a false faith to embrace the living truth. As a call to the unconverted the rack never had any particular efficacy, and is now held in light popular esteem.

Life, Truth, Light

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.192, University of Georgia Press

Worms'-Meat, n. The finished product of which we are the raw material. The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the Granitarium. Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure that houses it, but "this too must pass away." Probably the silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for himself. The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but only accentuates by contrast the foreknown futility.

House, Passing Away, Meat

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.475, ReadHowYouWant.com

One engaged in a commercial pursuit. A commercial pursuit is one in which the thing pursued is a dollar.

Dollars, Pursuit, Engaged

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2461, Delphi Classics

Houseless: Having paid all taxes on household goods.

Taxes, Goods, Household

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.113, University of Georgia Press

To apologize is to lay the foundation for a future offense.

Future, Apology, Foundation

Ambrose Bierce (1911). “The collected works”

EAT, v.i. To perform successively (and successfully) the functions of mastication, humectation, and deglutition. 'I was in the drawing-room, enjoying my dinner,' said Brillat-Savarin, beginning an anecdote. 'What!' interrupted Rochebriant; 'eating dinner in a drawing-room?' 'I must beg you to observe, monsieur,' explained the great gastronome, 'that I did not say I was eating my dinner, but enjoying it. I had dined an hour before.'

Food, Drawing, Cooking

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2387, Delphi Classics

Nonsense, n. The objections that are urged against this excellent dictionary.

Nonsense, Excellent, Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.85, Courier Corporation

LIMB, n. The branch of a tree or the leg of an American woman.

Women, Tree, Legs

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.151, University of Georgia Press

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

Change, Feel Better, Men

Opportunity: A favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment.

Disappointment, Opportunity, Grasping

Ambrose Bierce (2004). “The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary”, p.34, See Sharp Press

SAUCE, n. The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment. A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine. For every sauce invented and accepted a vice is renounced and forgiven.

Food, Ninety Nine, Civilization

Ambrose Bierce (1958). “The Devil's Dictionary: A Selection of the Bitter Definitions of Ambrose Bierce”, p.163, Prabhat Prakashan

Experience - the wisdom that enables us to recognise in an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.

Wisdom, Experience, Recognise You

TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own.

Independent, Animal, Tails

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.217, 谷月社

Slang is the speech of him who robs the literary garbage carts on their way to the dumps.

Speech, Way, Garbage

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1214, Delphi Classics

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

Funny, Jealousy, Sarcastic

Cynic's Word Book (1906) p. 41

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