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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 39

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

OBSERVATORY, n. A place where astronomers conjecture away the guesses of their predecessors.

OBSERVATORY, n. A place where astronomers conjecture away the guesses of their predecessors.

Science, Astronomers, Conjecture

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.151, 谷月社

MOUSE, n. An animal which strews its path with fainting women.

Science, Animal, Path

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.167, University of Georgia Press

ORATORY, n. A conspiracy between speech and action to cheat the understanding. A tyranny tempered by stenography.

Cheating, Understanding, Oratory

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Best Of Ambrose Bierce: The Damned Thing + An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge + The Devil's Dictionary + Chickamauga (4 Classics in 1 Book)”, p.170, e-artnow

Kiss. n. A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss".

Best Love, Kissing, Bliss

Ambrose Bierce (1906). “The Cynic's Word Book”, p.212, Lulu.com

DECIDE, v.i. To succumb to the preponderance of one set of influences over another set.

Influence

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Devil's Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged”, p.53, Courier Corporation

EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom.

Wisdom, Sometimes, Prose

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.71, ReadHowYouWant.com

MULTITUDE, n. A crowd; the source of political wisdom and virtue. In a republic, the object of the statesman's adoration.

Wisdom, Political, Crowds

Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2000). “The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires”, p.223, Univ. of Tennessee Press

The place whereon the priest formerly raveled out the small intestine of the sacrificial victim for purposes of divination and cooked its flesh for the gods. The word is now seldom used, except with reference to the sacrifice of their liberty and peace by a male and a female fool.

Sacrifice, Atheism, Liberty

Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.571, Library of America

NOMINATE, v. To designate for the heaviest political assessment. To put forward a suitable person to incur the mudgobbling and deadcatting of the opposition.

Assessment, Political, Politics

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2467, Delphi Classics

Damning, with bell, book and candle / Some sinner whose opinions are a scandal. / A rite permitting Satan to enslave him / Forever, and forbidding Christ to save him.

Book, Forever, Atheism

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.73, University of Georgia Press

MOUTH, n. In man, the gateway to the soul; in woman, the outlet of the heart.

Heart, Men, Soul

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.167, University of Georgia Press

DIARY, n. A daily record of that part of one's life, which he can relate to himself without blushing.

Life, Diaries, Records

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.45, 谷月社

RASCALITY, n. Stupidity militant. The activity of a clouded intellect.

Military, Stupidity, Intellect

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.175, 谷月社

QUIXOTIC, adj. Absurdly chivalric, like Don Quixote. An insight into the beauty and excellence of this incomparable adjective is unhappily denied to him who has the misfortune to know that the gentleman's name is pronounced Ke-ho-tay.

Beauty, Names, Gentleman

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.285, ReadHowYouWant.com

Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.

Coward, Human Nature, Virtue

Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (1998). “A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography”, p.238, Univ. of Tennessee Press

FREEBOOTER, n. A conqueror in a small way of business, whose annexations lack of the sanctifying merit of magnitude.

Business, Way, Merit

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.87, University of Georgia Press

PRIVATE, n. A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope.

Hope, Military, Gentleman

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

J, n. A consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel . . . from a Latin verb, "jacere", "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the dog's tail assumes that shape.

Dog, Latin, Verbs

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.115, 谷月社

As records of courts and justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.

Powerful, Law, Judging

"The Devil's Dictionary". Book by Ambrose Bierce, 1906.

Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'

Religious, Mistake, Food

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.128, University of Georgia Press

LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder.

Love, Temporary Insanity, Patient

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.155, University of Georgia Press

A chop is a piece of leather skillfully attached to a bone and administered to the patients at restaurants.

Food, Cooking, Pieces

CRAYFISH, n. A small crustacean very much resembling the lobster, but less indigestible.

Food, Cooking, Lobster

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2375, Delphi Classics

HOSPITALITY, n. The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging.

Food, Cooking, Needs

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

HEART, n. Figuratively, this useful organ is said to be the seat of emotions and sentiments . . . . It is now known that sentiments and emotions reside in the stomach, being evolved from food by chemical action of the gastric fluid.

Heart, Action, Emotion

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.116, ReadHowYouWant.com

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