Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 35

• PLUNDER, v. To take the property of another without observing the decent and customary reticences of theft. To wrest the wealth of A from B and leave C lamenting a vanishing opportunity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Opportunity, Vanishing, Wealth

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.125, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• LAST, n. A shoemaker's implement, named by a frowning Providence as opportunity to the maker of puns.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Opportunity, Frowning, Lasts

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.163, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• CRAYFISH, n. A small crustacean very much resembling the lobster, but less indigestible.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Lobster

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2375, Delphi Classics

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• Philanthropist, n.: A rich (and usually bald) old gentleman who has trained himself to grin while his conscience is picking his pocket.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Gentleman, Pockets, Philanthropy

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.181, University of Georgia Press

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• BEG, v. To ask for something with an earnestness proportioned to the belief that it will not be given.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Belief, Given, Asks

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.19, 谷月社

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• PASTIME, n. A device for promoting dejection. Gentle exercise for intellectual debility.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Exercise, Intellectual, Gentle

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.160, 谷月社

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• UBIQUITY, n. The gift or power of being in all places at one time, but not in all places at all times, which is omnipresence, an attribute of God and the luminiferous ether only.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Time, Power, Ubiquity

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.227, 谷月社

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• J, n. A consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel . . . from a Latin verb, "jacere", "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the dog's tail assumes that shape.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dog, Latin, Verbs

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.115, 谷月社

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• RABBLE, n. In a republic, those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections. The rabble is like the sacred Simurgh, of Arabian fable - omnipotent on condition that it do nothing.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Exercise, Republic, Sacred

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2491, Delphi Classics

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• MALTHUSIAN, adj. Pertaining to Malthus and his doctrines, who believed in artificially limiting population, but found that it could not be done by talking. Herod of Judea, all the famous soldiers have been practical exponents of the Malthusian idea.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Talking, Ideas, Soldier

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• A chop is a piece of leather skillfully attached to a bone and administered to the patients at restaurants.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Pieces

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• MAGIC, n. An art of converting superstition into coin. There are other arts serving the same high purpose, but the discreet lexicographer does not name them.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Names, Magic

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.159, University of Georgia Press

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• SACERDOTALIST, n. One who holds the belief that a clergyman is a priest. Denial of this momentous doctrine is the hardest challenge that is now flung into the teeth of the Episcopalian church by the Neo-Dictionarians.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Challenges, Church, Teeth

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2506, Delphi Classics

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• WHEAT, n. A cereal from which a tolerably good whisky can be made; . . . also for bread. The French are said to eat more bread "per capita" of population than any other people, which is natural, for only they know how to make the stuff palatable.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cereal, People

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

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• WALL STREET, n. A symbol for sin for every devil to rebuke. That Wall Street is a den of thieves is a belief that serves every unsuccessful thief in place of a hope in Heaven.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Success, Wall, Heaven

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.235, University of Georgia Press

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• Dictionary: a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic

  Ambrose Bierce

  Growth, Language, Literary Devices

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Devil's Dictionary (or The Cynic's Wordbook: Unabridged with all the Definitions)”, p.42, e-artnow

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• Justice is a commodity which in a more or less adulterated condition the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes and personal service.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Justice, Rewards, Citizens

  Ambrose Bierce (2006). “Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories”, p.9, Wordsworth Editions

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• SYLLOGISM, n. A logical formula consisting of a major and a minor assumption and an inconsequent.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Logic, Assumption

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2522, Delphi Classics

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• HARMONISTS, n. A sect of Protestants, now extinct, who came from Europe in the beginning of the last century and were distinguished for the bitterness of their internal controversies and dissensions.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Europe, Lasts, Bitterness

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.84, 谷月社

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• AFFLICTION, n. An acclimatizing process preparing the soul for another and bitter world.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Soul, World, Affliction

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.9, 谷月社

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• The place whereon the priest formerly raveled out the small intestine of the sacrificial victim for purposes of divination and cooked its flesh for the gods. The word is now seldom used, except with reference to the sacrifice of their liberty and peace by a male and a female fool.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sacrifice, Atheism, Liberty

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.571, Library of America

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• CEMETERY, n. An isolated suburban spot where mourners match lies, poets write at a target and stone-cutters spell for a wager.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Lying, Writing, Target

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.29, 谷月社

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• CANNON, n. An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Peace, War, Boundaries

  "The Devil's Dictionary". Book by Ambrose Bierce, 1906.

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• HASH: There is no definition for this word - nobody knows what hash is.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Definitions

  Ambrose Bierce (1958). “The Devil's Dictionary: A Selection of the Bitter Definitions of Ambrose Bierce”, p.70, Prabhat Prakashan

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• A man is known by the company he organizes.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Business, Work, Men

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