Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 24

• applause, n. The echo of a platitude.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Echoes, Applause, Platitudes

  'The Cynic's Word Book' (1906) p. 19

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• Book - Learning : The dunce's derisive term for all knowledge that transcends his own impertinent ignorance.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Book, Ignorance, Knowledge

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• art, n. This word has no definition.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Definitions

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.14, 谷月社

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• WIDOW, n. A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to take humorously, although Christ's tenderness towards widows was one of the most marked features of his character.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Christian, Character, Widows

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2540, Delphi Classics

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• Advice: The suggestions you give someone else which you hope will work for your benefit.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Giving, Advice, Suggestions

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• Women and foxes, being weak, are distinguished by superior tact.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Foxes, Weak, Tact

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “A Cynic Looks at Life”, p.38, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• REDRESS, n. Reparation without satisfaction.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Satisfaction, Redress, Reparations

  Ambrose Bierce (2004). “The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary”, p.40, See Sharp Press

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• 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

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• GNOSTICS, n. A sect of philosophers who tried to engineer a fusion between the early Christians and the Platonists. The former would not go into the caucus and the combination failed, greatly to the chagrin of the fusion managers.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Christian, Failure, Fusion

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.97, University of Georgia Press

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• A rabbit's foot may bring good luck to you, but it brought none to the rabbit.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Good Luck, Feet, Rabbits

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1210, Delphi Classics

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• adherent, n. A follower who has not yet obtained all that he expects to get.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Leadership, Followers

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.8, 谷月社

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• GRAVITATION, n. The tendency of all bodies to approach one another with a strength proportioned to the quantity of matter they contain-the quantity of matter they contain being ascertained by the strength of their tendency to approach one another. This is a lovely and edifying illustration of how science, having made A the proof of B, makes B the proof of A.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Illustration, Lovely

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.100, University of Georgia Press

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• HIBERNATE, v. i. To pass the winter season in domestic seclusion. There have been many singular popular notions about the hibernation of various animals. Many believe that the bear hibernates during the whole winter and subsists by mechanically sucking its paws. It is admitted that it comes out of its retirement in the spring so lean that it has to try twice before it can cast a shadow.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Retirement, Spring, Believe

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2418, Delphi Classics

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• BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Etna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Block, Wine, Science

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.26, University of Georgia Press

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• DIAPHRAGM, n. A muscular partition separating disorders of the chest from disorders of the bowels.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Disorder, Bowels

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.56, University of Georgia Press

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• DEBT, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave-driver. As, pent in an aquarium, the troutlet Swims round and round his tank to find an outlet, Pressing his nose against the glass that holds him, Nor ever sees the prison that enfolds him; So the poor debtor, seeing naught around him, Yet feels the narrow limits that impound him, Grieves at his debt and studies to evade it, And finds at last he might as well have paid it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Grieving, Glasses, Aquariums

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2379, Delphi Classics

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• GENEROUS, adj. Originally this word meant noble by birth and was rightly applied to a great multitude of persons. It now means noble by nature and is taking a bit of a rest.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Mean, Generosity, Noble

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.94, University of Georgia Press

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• Twice – Once too often.

  Ambrose Bierce

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• It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Change, Feel Better, Men

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• pleasure, n. The least hateful form of dejection.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hateful, Pleasure, Form

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

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• TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Independent, Animal, Tails

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.217, 谷月社

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• Coronation: The ceremony of investing a sovereign with the outward and visible signs of his divine right to be blown skyhigh with a dynamite bomb.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Divine Right, Bombs, Investing

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.36, 谷月社

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• mine, adj. Belonging to me if I can hold or seize it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Ifs, I Can, Mines

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.81, Courier Corporation

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• 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

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• MERCY, n. An attribute beloved of detected offenders.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Love, Mercy, Attributes

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

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