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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 25

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

PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.

PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.

Life, Temptation, Add

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.106, ReadHowYouWant.com

ROMANCE, n. Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is tethered to probability, but in romance it ranges at will over the entire region of the imagination . . .

Imagination, Romance, Fiction

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2504, Delphi Classics

Curiosity, n. An objectionable quality of the female mind. The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.

Passion, Soul, Curiosity

Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.601, Library of America

Condole - to show that bereavement is a smaller evil than sympathy.

Evil, Bereavement, Shows

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.34, 谷月社

Glutton- A person who escapes the evils of moderation by committing dyspepsia.

Food, Evil, Moderation

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.77, 谷月社

Learning -the kind of ignorance affected by (and affecting) civilized races, as distinguished from ignorance, the sort of learning incurred by savages. See nonsense.

Learning, Ignorance, Race

UNITARIAN, n. One who denies the divinity of a Trinitarian.

Divinity, Deny, Unitarian

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.132, Courier Corporation

IMBECILITY, n. A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting censorious critics of this dictionary.

Inspiration, Fire, Divinity

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.117, University of Georgia Press

PERIPATETIC, adj. Walking about. Relating to the philosophy of Aristotle, who, while expounding it, moved from place to place in order to avoid his pupil's objections. A needless precaution - they knew no more of the matter than he.

Philosophy, Order, Matter

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.161, 谷月社

OPERA, n. A play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes.

Life, Song, Attitude

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.174, University of Georgia Press

RECOUNT, n. In American politics, another throw of the dice, accorded to the player against whom they are loaded.

Player, Politics, Dice

Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2000). “The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires”, p.235, Univ. of Tennessee Press

CENTAUR, n. One of a race of persons who lived before the division of labor had been carried to such a pitch of differentiation, and who followed the primitive economic maxim, "Every man his own horse."

Life, Horse, Men

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.29, 谷月社

Past, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance. A moving line called the Present parts it from an imaginary period known as the Future. These two grand divisions of Eternity, of which the one is continually effacing the other, are entirely unlike. The one is dark with sorrow and disappointment, the other bright with prosperity and joy.... Yet the Past is the Future of yesterday, the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one-the knowledge and the dream.

Dream, Disappointment, Moving

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.160, 谷月社

DUEL, n. A formal ceremony preliminary to reconciliation of two enemies. Great skill is necessary to its satisfactory observance; if awkwardly performed . . . deplorable consequences sometimes ensue. A long time ago a man lost his life.

Life, Time, Men

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.60, University of Georgia Press

Historian - a broad-gauge gossip.

History, Gossip, Gauges

INCOMPATIBILITY, n. In matrimony a similarity of tastes, particularly the taste for domination. Incompatibility may, however, consist of a meek-eyed matron living just around the corner. It has even been known to wear a moustache.

Life, Justice, May

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.125, University of Georgia Press

DELEGATION, n. In American politics, an article of merchandise that comes in sets.

Politics, Delegation, Articles

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.43, 谷月社

ELECTOR, n. One who enjoys the sacred privilege of voting for the man of another man's choice.

Men, Voting, Choices

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.53, 谷月社

prospect, n. An outlook, usually forbidding. An expectation, usually forbidden.

Expectations, Outlook, Forbidden

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.189, University of Georgia Press

adore, v.t. To venerate expectantly.

Adore

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.14, University of Georgia Press

predicament, n. The wage of consistency.

Consistency, Habit, Predicaments

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.96, Courier Corporation

An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins.

Long, Doe, Assassins

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.7, 谷月社

CLOSE-FISTED, adj. Unduly desirous of keeping that which many meritorious persons wish to obtain.

Wish, Persons

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.31, 谷月社

The creator and arbiter of beauty is the heart; to the male rattlesnake the female rattlesnake is the loveliest thing in nature.

Beauty, Heart, Males

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2691, Delphi Classics

The palmist looks at the wrinkles made by closing the hand and says they signify character. The philosopher reads character by what the hand most loves to close upon.

Character, Wrinkles, Hands

Ambrose Bierce (2015). “A Cynic Looks at Life”, p.47, Sheba Blake Publishing

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