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
COMPULSION, n. The eloquence of power.
RESPITE, n. A suspension of hostilities against a sentenced assassin, to enable the Executive to determine whether the murder may not have been done by the prosecuting attorney. Any break in the continuity of a disagreeable expectation.
Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.
SERIAL, n. A literary work, usually a story that is not true, creeping through several issues of a newspaper or magazine.
WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil. (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil.
LINEN, n. "A kind of cloth the making of which, when made of hemp, entails a great waste of hemp."
Road, n. A strip of land along which one may pass from where it is too tiresome to be to where it is futile to go.
Appetite, n. An instinct thoughtfully implanted by Providence as a solution to the labor question.
A penny saved is a penny to squander.
PLAGIARIZE, v. To take the thought or style of another writer whom one has never, never read.
Backbite: To ''speak of a man as you find him'' when he can't find you.
Least said is soon disavowed.
BLANK-VERSE, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters - the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.
HOMILETICS, n. The science of adapting sermons to the spiritual needs, capacities and conditions of the congregation.