Ambrose Bierce Quotes About Authority

• RABBLE, n. In a republic, those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections. The rabble is like the sacred Simurgh, of Arabian fable - omnipotent on condition that it do nothing.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Exercise, Republic, Sacred

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2491, Delphi Classics

• REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Republic, Obedience, Authority

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2000). “The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires”, p.218, Univ. of Tennessee Press

• Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Failure, Destiny, Tyrants

  Enlarged Devil's Dictionary (1967) p. 64

• TENACITY, n. A certain quality of the human hand in its relation to the coin of the realm. It attains its highest development in the hand of authority and is considered a serviceable equipment for a career in politics.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hands, Careers, Quality

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.225, University of Georgia Press

• TEDIUM, n. Ennui, the state or condition of one that is bored. Many fanciful derivations of the word have been affirmed, but so high an authority as Father Jape says that it comes from a very obvious source --the first words of the ancient Latin hymn _Te Deum Laudamus_. In this apparently natural derivation there is something that saddens.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Father, Latin, Hymns

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2526, Delphi Classics

• A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority. It was originally a mace with which the sovereign admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the bones of their proponents.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kings, Office, Sovereign

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.200, 谷月社

• Legitimate authority to be, to do or to have; as the right to be a king, the right to do one's neighbor, the right to have measles, and the like.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kings, Neighbor, Authority

  Ambrose Bierce (1996). “Poems of Ambrose Bierce”, p.62, U of Nebraska Press

• PLENIPOTENTIARY, adj. Having full power. A Minister Plenipotentiary is a diplomatist possessing absolute authority on condition that he never exert it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Power, Authority, Ministers

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.184, University of Georgia Press

• MACE, n. A staff of office signifying authority. Its form, that of a heavy club, indicates its original purpose and use in dissuading from dissent.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Office, Purpose, Use

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.134, 谷月社

• PRESBYTERIAN, n. One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should be called presbyters.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Government, Church, Conviction

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.169, 谷月社

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