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

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• A revolution is a violent change of mismanagement.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Revolution, Violent, Mismanagement

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• Nothing is more logical than persecution. Religious tolerance is a kind of infidelity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Religious, Tolerance, Infidelity

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2697, Delphi Classics

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• POTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific-and without science we are as the snakes and toads.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, Drinking, Science

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2484, Delphi Classics

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• 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

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

  Ambrose Bierce

  Maturity, Celebrate, Ceremony

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Funny, Sarcastic, Art

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2450, Delphi Classics

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• The partisan strife in which the people of the country are permitted to periodically engage does not tend to the development of ugly traits of character, but merely discloses those that preexist.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Country, Character, People

  Ambrose Bierce, Ernest Jerome Hopkins (1968). “The Ambrose Bierce satanic reader: selections from the invective journalism of the great satirist”

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• 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

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• optimism, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with disproof - an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Beautiful, Fall, Adversity

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.175, University of Georgia Press

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• 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

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• 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.

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• 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

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