Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 21

• Revelation: a famous book in which St. John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Bible, Book, Done

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.200, University of Georgia Press

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• RESPIRATOR, n. An apparatus fitted over the nose and mouth of an inhabitant of London, whereby to filter the visible universe in its passage to the lungs.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Filters, Noses, Mouths

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.183, 谷月社

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• Scribbler, n. A professional writer whose views are antagonistic to one's own.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Writing, Views

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2513, Delphi Classics

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• MAGNITUDE, n. Size [that is] purely relative. If everything in the universe were increased 1,000 diameters nothing would be any larger than it was before, but if one thing remain unchanged all the others would be larger than they had been.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Would Be, Size, Magnitude

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• EXTINCTION, n. The raw material out of which theology created the future state.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sarcastic, Future, Raw Materials

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.61, 谷月社

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Evil, Bereavement, Shows

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

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Learning, Ignorance, Race

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Divinity, Deny, Unitarian

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

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• Hurry n: The dispatch of bunglers.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Haste

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.94, 谷月社

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• QUEEN, n. A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king, and through whom it is ruled when there is not.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kings, Queens, Women

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2489, Delphi Classics

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• General," said the commander of the delinquent brigade, "I am persuaded that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into collision with the enemy.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Funny, Military, Enemy

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.229, 谷月社

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• PREDESTINATION, n. The doctrine that all things occur according to programme. . . . not be confused with that of foreordination. The difference is great enough to have deluged Christendom with ink, to say nothing of the gore.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Confused, Differences, Confusion

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.186, University of Georgia Press

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• OWE, v. To have (and to hold) a debt. The word formerly signified not indebtedness, but possession; it meant "own," and in the minds of debtors there is still a good deal of confusion between assets and liabilities.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Confusion, Confusing, Mind

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.177, University of Georgia Press

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• RECREATION, n. A particular kind of dejection to relieve a general fatigue.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Recreation, Fatigue

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

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• PENITENT, adj. Undergoing or awaiting punishment.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Punishment

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2478, Delphi Classics

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• ZENITH, n. The point in the heavens directly overhead to a man standing or a growing cabbage. A man in bed or a cabbage in the pot is not considered as having a zenith, though Horizontalists hold that the posture of the body was immaterial.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Men, Heaven, Growing

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.241, 谷月社

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• ZEUS /n./ The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dog, Gold, Jupiter

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.241, 谷月社

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Inspiration, Fire, Divinity

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

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• While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands, you are safe, for you can watch both his.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sarcastic, Hands, Watches

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.68, University of Georgia Press

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• GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These, by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and suffused with various degrees of the bird's intellectual energies and emotional character, so that when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an "author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript of the fowl's thought and feeling. The difference in geese, as discovered by this ingenious method, is considerable: many are found to have only trivial and insignificant powers, but some are seen to be very great geese indeed.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Writing, Character, Science

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.78, 谷月社

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• A bad marriage is like an electrical thrilling machine: it makes you dance, but you can't let go.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Marriage, Letting Go, Machines

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales”, p.241, tredition

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• Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Miserable, Fame

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.95, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Birthday, Errors, Light

  Ambrose Bierce (1911). “The collected works”

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• 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 . . .

  Ambrose Bierce

  Imagination, Romance, Fiction

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

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• TRICHINOSIS, n. The pig's reply to proponents of porcophagy.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Pigs, Cooking

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.229, University of Georgia Press

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