Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Biercewas an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. He wrote the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and compiled a satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary. His vehemence as a critic, his motto "Nothing matters", and the sardonic view of human nature that informed his work, all earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 June 1842
CityMeighs County, OH
CountryUnited States of America
Fork: An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth.
Fidelity - a virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed.
Happiness: an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.
To apologize is to lay the foundation for a future offense.
TAKE, v.t. To acquire, frequently by force but preferably by stealth.
As records of courts and justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges' decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.
Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of.
There are four kinds of Homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy.
An immaterial but visible being that inhabited the air when the air was an element and before it was fatally polluted with factory smoke, sewer gas and similar products of civilization.
Something that is supposed to typify or stand for something else. Many symbols are mere "survivals" - as funereal urns carved on memorial monuments. We cannot stop making them, but we can give them a name that conceals our helplessness.
Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.
The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.
The speech of one who utters with his tongue what he thinks with his ear, and feels the pride of a creator in accomplishing the feat of a parrot. A means (under Providence) of setting up as a wit without a capital of sense.
Prejudice - a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.