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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 4

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

Feast, n. A festival. A religious celebration usually signalized by gluttony and drunkenness, frequently in honor of some holy person distinguished for abstemiousness.

Feast, n. A festival. A religious celebration usually signalized by gluttony and drunkenness, frequently in honor of some holy person distinguished for abstemiousness.

Religious, Food, Perspective

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.78, University of Georgia Press

Introduction - a social ceremony invented by the devil for the gratification of his servants and the plaguing of his enemies.

Evil, Enemy, Social

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.136, University of Georgia Press

REFUSAL, n. Denial of something desired; Refusals are graded in a descending scale of finality thus: the refusal absolute, the refusal condition, the refusal tentative and the refusal feminine. The last is called by some casuists the refusal assentive.

Desire, Denial, Lasts

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2495, Delphi Classics

moral, adj. Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.

Quality, Morality, Standards

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.146, 谷月社

PALMISTRY, n. The 947th method . . . of obtaining money by false pretences [by] "reading character" in the wrinkles [of] the hand. The pretence is not altogether false. . . for the wrinkles in every hand submitted plainly spell the word "dupe."

Money, Reading, Character

Crowned with leaves of the laurel. In England the Poet Laureate is an officer of the sovereign's court, acting as dancing skeleton at every royal feast and singing-mute at every royal funeral.

Skeletons, Dancing, Funeral

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2445, Delphi Classics

OBLIVION, n. Cold storage for high hopes. A place where ambitious authors meet their works without pride and their betters without envy. A dormitory without an alarm clock.

Hope, Pride, Envy

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

Self-denial is indulgence of a propensity to forego.

Self, Denial, Indulgence

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

aim, n. The task we set our wishes to.

Wish, Desire, Tasks

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2354, Delphi Classics

REBEL, n. A proponent of a new misrule who has failed to establish it.

Failure, Rebel

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.194, University of Georgia Press

PAST, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance... The Past is the Future of yesterday, the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one - the knowledge and the dream.

Dream, Future, Past

"The Devil's Dictionary". Book by Ambrose Bierce, 1911.

There's no free will," says the philosopher; "To hang is most unjust." "There is no free will," assents the officer; "We hang because we must.

Unjust, Philosopher, Free Will

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1211, Delphi Classics

Youth looks forward, for nothing is behind! Age backward, for nothing is before.

Age, Looks, Youth

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1219, Delphi Classics

PUSH, n. One of the two things mainly conducive to success, especially in politics. The other is Pull.

Success, Congratulations, Two

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

The liberality of one who has much, in permitting one who has nothing to get all that he can.

Liberality

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.23, 谷月社

EXISTENCE, n. A transient, horrible, fantastic dream,/ Wherein is nothing yet all things do seem:/ From which we're wakened by a friendly nudge/ Of our bedfellow Death, and cry: "O fudge!"

Dream, Nudge Nudge, Friendly

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.74, University of Georgia Press

TAKE, v.t. To acquire, frequently by force but preferably by stealth.

Force, Stealth, Acquire

Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.815, Library of America

COMPULSION, n. The eloquence of power.

Power, Compulsion, Eloquence

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

MESMERISM, n. Hypnotism before it wore good clothes, kept a carriage and asked Incredulity to dinner.

Science, Clothes, Dinner

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.164, University of Georgia Press

Male, A member of the unconsidered or negligible gender. The male of the human race is commonly known to the female as Mere Man. The Genus has two varieties: good providers and bad providers.

Men, Race, Two

Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.78, Courier Corporation

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

People, Absence, Absent Friends

PERORATION, n. The explosion of an oratorical rocket. It dazzles, but to an observer having the wrong kind of nose its most conspicuous peculiarity is the smell of the several kinds of powder used in preparing it.

Kindness, Smell, Noses

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.180, University of Georgia Press

Least said is soon disavowed.

Clarity, Said, Communicate

Divorce: a resumption of diplomatic relations and rectification of boundaries.

Divorce, Diplomatic Relations, Boundaries

Eloquence, n. The art of orally persuading fools that white is the color that it appears to be. It includes the gift of making any color appear white.

Art, Color, White

Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.618, Library of America

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