Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 10

• 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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• 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

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• actually, adv. Perhaps; possibly.

  Ambrose Bierce

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

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• Saint: A dead sinner revised and edited.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Saint, Saints And Sinners, Edited

  Devil's Dictionary (1911) p. 306

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• RATTLESNAKE, n. Our prostrate brother, "Homo ventrambulans".

  Ambrose Bierce

  Brother, Rattlesnakes

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.175, 谷月社

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• ARMOR, n. The kind of clothing worn by a man whose tailor is a blacksmith.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Kindness, Men, Tailors

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.14, 谷月社

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• EXECUTIVE, n. An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of no effect.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Time, Power, Government

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.59, 谷月社

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• IMPROVIDENCE, n. Provision for the needs of to-day from the revenues of to-morrow.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Needs, Morrow, Provision

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.121, University of Georgia Press

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• REAR, n. In American military matters, that exposed part of the army that is nearest to Congress.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Military, Army, Matter

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.768, Library of America

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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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• Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Funny, Money, Badass

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.17, 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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• 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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• At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.

  Ambrose Bierce

  War, Savages, Idiot

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.9, University of Georgia Press

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• 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

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• April fool, n. The March fool with another month added to his folly.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Fools Day, Months, April

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.13, 谷月社

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• EUCHARIST, n. A sacred feast of the religious sect of Theophagi. A dispute once unhappily arose among the members of this sect as to what it was that they ate. In this controversy some five hundred thousand have already been slain, and the question is still unsettled.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Religious, Food, Cooking

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.71, University of Georgia Press

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• Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Hypocrisy, Manners, Etiquette

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

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• Fear has no brains; it is an idiot.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Fear, Brain, Idiot

  Ambrose Bierce (1984). “The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce”, p.142, U of Nebraska Press

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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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• Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Patriotism, Fever, Stones

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2230, Delphi Classics

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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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• LIVER, n. A large red organ thoughtfully provided by nature to be bilious with. The sentiments and emotions which every literary anatomist now knows to haunt the heart were anciently believed to infest the liver; and even Gascoygne, speaking of the emotional side of human nature, calls it "our hepaticall parte." It was at one time considered the seat of life; hence its name- liver, the thing we live with.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Heart, Science, Emotional

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.152, University of Georgia Press

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• Rum, n. Generically, fiery liquors that produce madness in total abstainers.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Madness

  Ambrose Bierce (2004). “The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary”, p.41, See Sharp Press

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• You can effect a change of robbers every four years. Inestimable privilege - to pull off the glutted leech and attach the lean one! And you can not even choose among the lean leeches, but must accept those designated by the programmers and showmen who have the reptiles on tap!

  Ambrose Bierce

  Years, Leeches, Reptiles

  "The Shadow on The Dial and Other Essays". Book by Ambrose Bierce, www.pub22.net. 1909.

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