Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 19

• 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.

  Ambrose Bierce

  House, Passing Away, Meat

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

  4 Copy quote

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hands, Bird

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

  4 Copy quote

• Self-restraint is indulgence of the propensity to forgo.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Self, Restraint, Indulgence

  4 Copy quote

• One of the greatest of poets, Coleridge was one of the wisest of men, and it was not for nothing that he read us this parable. Let us have a little less of "hands across the sea," and a little more of that elemental distrust that is the security of nations. War loves to come like a thief in the night; professions of eternal amity provide the night.

  Ambrose Bierce

  War, Night, Men

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.232, 谷月社

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ambrose Bierce

  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

  4 Copy quote

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dollars, Pursuit, Engaged

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

  4 Copy quote

• Houseless: Having paid all taxes on household goods.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Taxes, Goods, Household

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

  4 Copy quote

• Brain, v. [as in "to brain"]: To rebuke bluntly, but not pointedly; to dispel a source of error in an opponent.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Errors, Brain, Opponents

  4 Copy quote

• IMPOSTOR n. A rival aspirant to public honors.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Honor, Rivals

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.190, ReadHowYouWant.com

  4 Copy quote

• Finance is the art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Finance, Advantage

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.81, University of Georgia Press

  4 Copy quote

• Spring beckons! All things to the call respond; the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Spring, Tree, Leaving

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.565, Library of America

  87 Copy quote

• I believe we shall come to care about people less and less. The more people one knows the easier it becomes to replace them. It's one of the curses of London.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Believe, People, Care

  9 Copy quote

• Childhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, Children, Two

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.34, University of Georgia Press

  8 Copy quote

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Long, Doe, Assassins

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

  78 Copy quote

• Opportunity: A favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment.

  Ambrose Bierce

  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

  8 Copy quote

• Inhumanity, n. One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Humanity, Quality, Characteristics

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.130, University of Georgia Press

  6 Copy quote

• Age - That period of life in which we compound for the vices that remain by reviling those we have no longer the vigor to commit.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, Time, Age

  Ambrose Bierce (1906). “The Cynic's Word Book”, p.14, Lulu.com

  7 Copy quote

• Christian - One who follows the teachings of Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, God, Christian

  Ambrose Bierce (2007). “Essential Bierce: A Selection of the Writings of Ambrose Bierce”, Heyday Books

  4 Copy quote

• Conversation: A fair for the display of the minor mental commodities, each exhibitor being too intent upon the arrangement of his own wares to observe those of his neighbor.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Inspirational, Commodity, Neighbor

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2374, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

• Twice – Once too often.

  Ambrose Bierce

  4 Copy quote

• NIHILIST, n. A Russian who denies the existence of anything but Tolstoi. The leader of the school is Tolstoi.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Leadership, School, Nihilist

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

  4 Copy quote

• Infidel, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Christian, New York, Believe

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.106, 谷月社

  58 Copy quote

• San Francisco is the place where most people were last seen

  Ambrose Bierce

  San Francisco, People, Lasts

  4 Copy quote

• I was born to poor because of honest parents.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Parent, Honest, Poor

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “Negligible Tales”, p.23, Ambrose Bierce

  4 Copy quote

• Patriotism: The first resort of a scoundrel.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Patriotism, Firsts, Scoundrels

  4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Edgar Allan Poe

Mark Twain

Stephen Crane

Algernon Blackwood

H. P. Lovecraft

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Arthur Machen

Sarah Orne Jewett