Ambrose Bierce Quotes About Habits

• Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the others who have tried it.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Crazy, Pride, Men

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.50, ReadHowYouWant.com

• Habit: A shackle for the free.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Nihilism, Habit, Shackles

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.157, ReadHowYouWant.com

• 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

• ADDER, n. A species of snake. So called from its habit of adding funeral outlays to the other expenses of living.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Science, Snakes, Funeral

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.12, University of Georgia Press

• SCARABAEUS, n. The sacred beetle of the ancient Egyptians, allied to our familiar "tumble-bug." It was supposed to symbolize immortality, the fact that God knew why giving it its peculiar sanctity. Its habit of incubating its eggs in a ball of ordure may also have commended it to the favor of the priesthood, and may some day assure it an equal reverence among ourselves. True, the American beetle is an inferior beetle, but the American priest is an inferior priest.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Eggs, Giving, Sacred

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition”, p.328, ReadHowYouWant.com

• predicament, n. The wage of consistency.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Consistency, Habit, Predicaments

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.96, Courier Corporation

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