Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 6

• Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Beautiful, Italian, Two

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

  57 Copy quote

• A revolution is a violent change of mismanagement.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Revolution, Violent, Mismanagement

  22 Copy quote

• What is worth doing is worth the trouble of asking somebody to do it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Inspirational, Work, Asking

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

  8 Copy quote

• BRANDY, n. A cordial composed on one part thunder-and-lightning, one part remorse, two parts bloody murder, one part death-hell-and-the-grave and four parts clarified Satan.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Two, Alcohol, Four

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.29, University of Georgia Press

  19 Copy quote

• Disobey n:To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command

  Ambrose Bierce

  Maturity, Celebrate, Ceremony

  6 Copy quote

• Custard: A detestable substance produced by a malevolent conspiracy of the hen, the cow, and the cook.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Substance

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.47, University of Georgia Press

  9 Copy quote

• Convent - a place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the sin of idleness.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Retirement, Women, Judging

  Ambrose Bierce (1906). “The Cynic's Word Book”, p.57, Lulu.com

  26 Copy quote

• DISCUSSION, n. A method of confirming others in their errors.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Errors, Method

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.57, University of Georgia Press

  7 Copy quote

• Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Patriotic, Names, Patriotism

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

  21 Copy quote

• Heathen, n. A benighted creature who has the folly to worship something that he can see and feel.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Fear, Worship, Folly

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.108, University of Georgia Press

  9 Copy quote

• Heaven: A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you expound on yours.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Heaven, Wicked, Attention

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.50, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• Consul - in American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, People, Office

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.34, 谷月社

  10 Copy quote

• Forgetfulness - a gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Debtors, Owing A Debt, Forgetful

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.38, Courier Corporation

  30 Copy quote

• UXORIOUSNESS, n. A perverted affection that has strayed to one's own wife.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Wife, Affection

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.229, 谷月社

  7 Copy quote

• NEIGHBOR, n. One whom we are commanded to love as ourselves, and who does all he knows how to make us disobedient.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Love, Funny, Humor

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.149, 谷月社

  8 Copy quote

• Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Friendship, Happiness, Future

  Cynic's Word Book (1906) p. 129

  44 Copy quote

• Cribbage, n. A substitute for conversation among those to whom nature has denied ideas.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Ideas, Substitutes, Conversation

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.45, University of Georgia Press

  4 Copy quote

• MINISTER, n. An agent of a higher power with a lower responsibility. In diplomacy, an officer sent into a foreign country as the visible embodiment of his sovereign's hostility.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, Responsibility, Power

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

  18 Copy quote

• To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Planning, Results

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Best Of Ambrose Bierce: The Damned Thing + An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge + The Devil's Dictionary + Chickamauga (4 Classics in 1 Book)”, p.179, e-artnow

  9 Copy quote

• PAST, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance... The Past is the Future of yesterday, the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one - the knowledge and the dream.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Dream, Future, Past

  "The Devil's Dictionary". Book by Ambrose Bierce, 1911.

  17 Copy quote

• REASON, v.i. To weight probabilities in the scales of desire.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Desire, Weight, Reason

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.246, ReadHowYouWant.com

  7 Copy quote

• Pantheism, n.
  The doctrine that everything is God, in contradistinction to the doctrine that God is everything.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Doctrine, Pantheism

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.91, Courier Corporation

  9 Copy quote

• Occident: The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient. It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which they are pleased to call war and commerce. These, also, are the principal industries of the Orient.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Christian, Cheating, Powerful

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.152, 谷月社

  19 Copy quote

• EXCEPTION, n. A thing which takes the liberty to differ from other things of its class, as an honest man, a truthful woman, etc.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Truth, Honesty, Women

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.72, University of Georgia Press

  6 Copy quote

• Income is the natural and rational gauge and measure of respectability.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Gauges, Income, Natural

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.137, ReadHowYouWant.com

  4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Edgar Allan Poe

Mark Twain

Stephen Crane

Algernon Blackwood

H. P. Lovecraft

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Arthur Machen

Sarah Orne Jewett