Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 35

• Snow pursued by the wind is not wholly unlike a retreating army. In the open field it ranges itself in ranks and battalions; where it can get a foothold it makes a stand; where it can take cover it does so. You may see whole platoons of snow cowering behind a bit of broken wall.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wall, Army, Wind

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “Can Such Things Be?”, p.104, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• When publicly censured our first instinct is to make everybody a codefendant.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Firsts, Instinct

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Epigrams by Ambrose Bierce”, p.9, e-artnow

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• Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Education, Ignorance, Kind

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.148, University of Georgia Press

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• Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Coward, Human Nature, Virtue

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (1998). “A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography”, p.238, Univ. of Tennessee Press

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• Fear has no brains; it is an idiot. The dismal witness that it bears and the cowardly counsel that it whispers are unrelated.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Brain, Bears, Idiot

  Ambrose Bierce (1964). “Ghost and Horror Stories”, p.147, Courier Corporation

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• You are not permitted to kill a woman who has wronged you, but nothing forbids you to reflect that she is growing older every minute.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Love, Funny, Marriage

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1223, Delphi Classics

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• When among the graves of thy fellows, walk with circumspection; thine own is open at thy feet.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Death, Feet, Graves

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “A Cynic Looks at Life”, p.47, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'

  Ambrose Bierce

  Religious, Mistake, Food

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.128, University of Georgia Press

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• Dance, v.i. To leap about to the sound of tittering music, preferably with arms about your neighbor's wife or daughter. There are many kinds of dances, but all those requiring the participation of the two sexes have two characteristics in common: they are conspicuously innocent, and warmly loved by the vicious.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dance, Daughter, Sex

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.39, 谷月社

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• REVOLUTION, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. . . . the substitution of the rule of an Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Change, Happiness, People

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.186, 谷月社

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• Kiss. n. A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss".

  Ambrose Bierce

  Best Love, Kissing, Bliss

  Ambrose Bierce (1906). “The Cynic's Word Book”, p.212, Lulu.com

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• Appeal. In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Law, Dice, Appeals

  The Devil's Dictionary

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• A hollow edifice erected for the habitation of man, rat, mouse, beetle, cockroach, fly, mosquito, flea, bacillus, and microbe.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Party, Men, House

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.92, 谷月社

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• Hail, high Excess especially in wine,
  To thee in worship do I bend the knee
  Who preach abstemiousness unto me
  My skull thy pulpit, as my paunch thy shrine.
  Precept on precept, aye, and line on line,
  Could ne'er persuade so sweetly to agree
  With reason as thy touch, exact and free,
  Upon my forehead and along my spine.
  At thy command eschewing pleasure's cup,
  With the hot grape I warm no more my wit;
  When on thy stool of penitence I sit
  I'm quite converted, for I can't get up.
  Ungrateful he who afterward would falter
  To make new sacrifices at thine altar!

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wine, Sacrifice, Skulls

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2393, Delphi Classics

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• The quality that distinguishes love without knowledge.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Love, Knowledge, Quality

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.13, 谷月社

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• PERFECTION, n. An imaginary state of quality distinguished from the actual by an element known as excellence; an attribute of the critic.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Perfection, Excellence, Quality

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

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• The natural equipment to accomplish some small part of the meaner ambitions distinguishing able men from dead ones. In the last analysis ability is commonly found to consist mainly in a high degree of solemnity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Ambition, Men, Degrees

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.7, University of Georgia Press

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• Uncommon extension of the fear of death.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Aging, Fear Of Death, Uncommon

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.130, 谷月社

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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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• 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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• 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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• RASCALITY, n. Stupidity militant. The activity of a clouded intellect.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Military, Stupidity, Intellect

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.175, 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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• A modern school where football is taught.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sports, Football, School

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.10, University of Georgia Press

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• Monsieur Franqulin, inventor of electricity. This
  illustrious savant, after having made several voyages around the
  world, died on the Sandwich Islands and was devoured by savages,
  of whom not a single fragment was ever recovered.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Islands, Savages, Sandwiches

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.64, University of Georgia Press

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