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Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 5

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

Religion. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

Religion. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

Daughter, Religious, Nature

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.196, University of Georgia Press

Happiness is lost by criticizing it; sorrow by accepting it.

Sorrow, Accepting, Lost

"The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce". Book by Ambrose Bierce, 1911.

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am;" as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made.

Thinking, Philosopher, Made

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.28, 谷月社

DIGESTION, n. The conversion of victuals into virtues. When the process is imperfect, vices are evolved instead - a circumstance from which that wicked writer, Dr. Jeremiah Blenn, infers that the ladies are the greater sufferers from dyspepsia.

Science, Imperfection, Wicked

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.57, University of Georgia Press

Income is the natural and rational gauge and measure of respectability.

Gauges, Income, Natural

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.137, ReadHowYouWant.com

POSITIVISM- A philosophy that denies our knowledge of the Real and affirms our ignorance of the Apparent. Its longest exponent is Comte, its broadest Mill and its thickest Spencer.

Philosophy, Real, Ignorance

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.167, 谷月社

Clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron - namely, that he is a blockhead.

Atheism, Invisible, Clairvoyant

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.36, University of Georgia Press

In the algebra of psychology, X stands for a woman's heart.

Heart, Funny Relationship, Psychology

A revolution is a violent change of mismanagement.

Revolution, Violent, Mismanagement

MYTHOLOGY, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later.

Hero, People, Body

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.148, 谷月社

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms agains himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.

Inspiring, Success, Failure

POTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific-and without science we are as the snakes and toads.

Country, Drinking, Science

Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2484, Delphi Classics

LIFE, n. A spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay. We live in daily apprehension of its loss; yet when lost it is not missed.

Life, Spiritual, Loss

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.150, University of Georgia Press

Custard: A detestable substance produced by a malevolent conspiracy of the hen, the cow, and the cook.

Food, Cooking, Substance

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.47, University of Georgia Press

CLERGYMAN, n. A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of better his temporal ones.

Spiritual, Men, Affair

Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.46, ReadHowYouWant.com

Immortality: A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend and lie for, And if allowed Would be right proud Eternally to die for.

Lying, Sadness, People

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.119, University of Georgia Press

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

Clever, Inspiration, Ends

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

The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.

Wisdom, Clever, Lying

Heathen, n. A benighted creature who has the folly to worship something that he can see and feel.

Fear, Worship, Folly

Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.108, University of Georgia Press

I keep a conscience uncorrupted by religion, a judgment undimmed by politics and patriotism, a heart untainted by friendships and sentiments unsoured by animosities.

Fear, Heart, Atheism

Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (1998). “A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography”, p.177, Univ. of Tennessee Press

Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue.

Sarcastic, Patience, Virtue

Convent - a place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the sin of idleness.

Retirement, Women, Judging

Ambrose Bierce (1906). “The Cynic's Word Book”, p.57, Lulu.com

CARTESIAN, adj. Relating to Descartes, author of 'Cogito ergo sum' to demonstrate the reality of human existence. The dictum might be improved 'Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum' 'I think that I think, therefore I think that I am' as close an approach.

Reality, Thinking, Might

Opposition, n. In politics the party that prevents the government from running amuck by hamstringing it.

Running, Party, Government

Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.154, 谷月社

NEIGHBOR, n. One whom we are commanded to love as ourselves, and who does all he knows how to make us disobedient.

Love, Funny, Humor

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

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