Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 36

• HOSPITALITY, n. The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Needs

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.14, University of Georgia Press

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• Something that is supposed to typify or stand for something else. Many symbols are mere "survivals" - as funereal urns carved on memorial monuments. We cannot stop making them, but we can give them a name that conceals our helplessness.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Names, Giving, Memorial

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.221, University of Georgia Press

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• LEXICOGRAPHER, n. A pestilent fellow who, under the pretense of recording some particular stage in the development of a language, does what he can to arrest its growth, stiffen its flexibility and mechanize its methods.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Growth, Lexicographer, Doe

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Devil's Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged”, p.147, Courier Corporation

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• TRUCE, n. Friendship.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Friendship, Truce

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.230, University of Georgia Press

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• R.I.P. A careless abbreviation of "requiescat in pace", attesting to indolent goodwill to the dead. According to the learned Dr. Drigge, however, the letters originally meant nothing more than "reductus in pulvis".

  Ambrose Bierce

  Learning, Drs, Pace

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.783, Library of America

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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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• 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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• ANTIPATHY, n. The sentiment inspired by one's friend's friend.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Friendship, Inspiration, Inspired

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.12, 谷月社

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• I think love is the most unbelievable, and critical, thing in civilization. Everything else is very mechanical and predictable, but love, you can't catch it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Love You, Love Is, Thinking

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• Damning, with bell, book and candle / Some sinner whose opinions are a scandal. / A rite permitting Satan to enslave him / Forever, and forbidding Christ to save him.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Book, Forever, Atheism

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.73, University of Georgia Press

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• HYENA, n. A beast held in reverence by some oriental nations from its habit of frequenting at night the burial-places of the dead. But the medical student does that

  Ambrose Bierce

  Night, Doe, Hyenas

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

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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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• RECONCILIATION, n. A suspension of hostilities. An armed truce for the purpose of digging up the dead.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Digging, Purpose, Truce

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

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• RESPITE, n. A suspension of hostilities against a sentenced assassin, to enable the Executive to determine whether the murder may not have been done by the prosecuting attorney. Any break in the continuity of a disagreeable expectation.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Expectations, Done, Assassins

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.776, Library of America

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• CAVILER, n. A critic of our own work.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Work, Critics

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2369, Delphi Classics

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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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• PALM, n. A species of tree . . . of which the familiar "itching palm" ("Palma hominis") is most widely distributed . . . . This noble vegetable exudes a kind of invisible gum, which may be detected by applying to the bark a piece of gold or silver.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Vegetables, Tree, Gold

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2476, Delphi Classics

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• PREHISTORIC, adj. Belonging to an early period and a museum. Antedating the art and practice of perpetuating falsehood.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Art, Museums, Practice

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

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• NOISE, n. A stench in the ear. Undomesticated music. The chief product and authenticating sign of civilization.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Music, Civilization, Silence

  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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• Miss, n. A title which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Women, Missing, Titles

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.145, 谷月社

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• MANICHEISM, n. The ancient Persian doctrine of an incessant warfare between Good and Evil. When Good gave up the fight the Persians joined the victorious Opposition.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Fighting, Evil, Doctrine

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.162, University of Georgia Press

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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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• OSTRICH, n. A large bird to which (for its sins, doubtless) nature has denied that hinder toe . . . . The absence of a good working pair of wings is no defect, for, as has been ingeniously pointed out, the ostrich does not fly.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Ostriches, Wings, Bird

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.176, University of Georgia Press

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