Ambrose Bierce Quotes About Animals

• MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Animal, Men, Thinking

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.161, University of Georgia Press

• The circus a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Horse, Children, Animal

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.31, 谷月社

• MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Animal, Men, Thinking

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.161, University of Georgia Press

• ZOOLOGY, n. The science and history of the animal kingdom, including its king, the House Fly ("Musca maledicta"). The father of Zoology was Aristotle, as is universally conceded, but the name of its mother has not come down to us.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Mother, Kings, Father

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.843, Library of America

• MUMMY, n. - an ancient Egyptian handy, too, in museums in gratifying the vulgar curiosity that serves to distinguish man from the lower animals.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Men, Animal, Museums

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.148, 谷月社

• WOMAN, n. An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man, and having a rudimentary susceptibility to domestication.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, Women, Animal

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.239, University of Georgia Press

• HIBERNATE, v. i. To pass the winter season in domestic seclusion. There have been many singular popular notions about the hibernation of various animals. Many believe that the bear hibernates during the whole winter and subsists by mechanically sucking its paws. It is admitted that it comes out of its retirement in the spring so lean that it has to try twice before it can cast a shadow.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Retirement, Spring, Believe

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2418, Delphi Classics

• CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses."

  Ambrose Bierce

  Strong, Adversity, Animal

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.38, 谷月社

• MOUSE, n. An animal which strews its path with fainting women.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Animal, Path

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.167, University of Georgia Press

• TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Independent, Animal, Tails

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.217, 谷月社

• PIG, n. An animal ("Porcus omnivorus") closely allied to the human race by the splendor and vivacity of its appetite, which, however, is inferior in scope, for it sticks at pig.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Animal, Pigs

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.164, 谷月社

• MONKEY, n. An arboreal animal which makes itself at home in genealogical trees.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Home, Animal, Tree

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.146, 谷月社

• MAMMALIA, n.pl. A family of vertebrate animals whose females in a state of nature suckle their young, but when civilized and enlightened put them out to nurse, or use the bottle.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Nature, Animal, Nurse

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.161, University of Georgia Press

• HYDRA, n. A kind of animal that the ancients catalogued under many heads.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Animal, Hydra

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

• GNU, n. An animal of South Africa, which in its domesticated state resembles a horse, a buffalo and a stag. In its wild condition it is something like a thunderbolt, an earthquake and a cyclone.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Horse, Animal, Earthquakes

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.97, University of Georgia Press

• Hippogriff, n. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one-quarter eagle, which is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full of surprises.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Horse, Animal, Eagles

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.51, Courier Corporation

• Fork: An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sarcastic, Animal, Purpose

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.70, 谷月社

• Every heart is the lair of a ferocious animal. The greatest wrong that you can put upon a man is to provoke him to let out his beast.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Heart, Animal, Men

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.1209, Delphi Classics

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