Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 23

• A trite popular saying, or proverb. (Figurative and colloquial.) So called because it makes its way into a wooden head. Following are examples of old saws fitted with new teeth.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Example, Teeth, Way

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

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• A popular vote to ascertain the will of the sovereign.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Popular Vote, Sovereign, Vote

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Devil's Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged”, p.195, Courier Corporation

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• SEINE, n. A kind of net for effecting an involuntary change of environment. For fish it is made strong and coarse, but women are more easily taken with a singularly delicate fabric weighted with small, cut stones.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Change, Strong, Taken

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.213, University of Georgia Press

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• LIMB, n. The branch of a tree or the leg of an American woman.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Women, Tree, Legs

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.151, University of Georgia Press

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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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• PLAGIARIZE, v. To take the thought or style of another writer whom one has never, never read.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Style

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.183, University of Georgia Press

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• BLANK-VERSE, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters - the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Writing, Blank

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.32, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• LINEN, n. "A kind of cloth the making of which, when made of hemp, entails a great waste of hemp."

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Waste, Hemp

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.72, Courier Corporation

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• SARCOPHAGUS, n. Among the Greeks a coffin which being made of a certain kind of carnivorous stone, had the peculiar property of devouring the body placed in it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Greek, Peculiar

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.208, 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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• FLAG, n. A colored rag borne above troops and hoisted on forts and ships. It appears to serve the same purpose as certain signs that one sees and vacant lots in London

  Ambrose Bierce

  Rags, Troops, Purpose

  Ambrose Bierce (1973). “The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce”, Ayer Company Pub

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• PERIPATETIC, adj. Walking about. Relating to the philosophy of Aristotle, who, while expounding it, moved from place to place in order to avoid his pupil's objections. A needless precaution - they knew no more of the matter than he.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Philosophy, Order, Matter

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.161, 谷月社

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• Gout, a physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient

  Ambrose Bierce

  Names, Physicians, Gout

  The Devil's Dictionary

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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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• 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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• Theology is a thing of unreason altogether, an edifice of assumptions and dreams, a superstructure without a substructure

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dream, Assumption, Theology

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2734, Delphi Classics

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• Noise: a stench in the ear.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Silence, Ears, Noise

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.732, Library of America

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• No country is so wild and difficult but men will make it a theater of war.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, War, Men

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “A Son of the Gods and Horseman in the Sky”, p.17, Read Books Ltd

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• RECOUNT, n. In American politics, another throw of the dice, accorded to the player against whom they are loaded.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Player, Politics, Dice

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2000). “The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires”, p.235, Univ. of Tennessee Press

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• DELEGATION, n. In American politics, an article of merchandise that comes in sets.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Politics, Delegation, Articles

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.43, 谷月社

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• ARENA, n. In politics, an imaginary rat-pit in which the statesman wrestles with his record.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Pits, Records, Politics

  Ambrose Bierce (2004). “The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary”, p.20, See Sharp Press

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• PLEBEIAN, n. An ancient Roman who in the blood of his country stained nothing but his hands. Distinguished from the Patrician, who was a saturated solution.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, Blood, Hands

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.165, 谷月社

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• Appetite, n. An instinct thoughtfully implanted by Providence as a solution to the labor question.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hunger, Instinct, Appetite

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.16, University of Georgia Press

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• Behavior, n. Conduct, as determined, not by principle, but by breeding.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Principles, Determined, Behavior

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2363, Delphi Classics

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