“Beware of the compound adjective, beloved of the tyro and the 'poetess'.” — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
POETRY, n. A form of expression peculiar to the Land beyond the Magazines. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
IMAGINATION, n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“ Humanity , n. The human race, collectively, exclusive of the anthropoid poets.” — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
PRISON, n. A place of punishments and rewards. The poet assures us that - stone walls do not a prison make. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
CEMETERY, n. An isolated suburban spot where mourners match lies, poets write at a target and stone-cutters spell for a wager. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
OUT-OF-DOORS, n. That part of one's environment upon which no government has been able to collect taxes. Chiefly useful to inspire poets. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
RICE-WATER, n. A mystic beverage secretly used by our most popular novelists and poets to regulate the imagination and narcotize the conscience. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
MINSTREL, adj. Formerly a poet, singer or musician; now a nigger with a color less than skin deep and a humor more… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of humor, the writer aims to produce in… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
BLANK-VERSE, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters - the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom. Following are… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
KISS, n. A word invented by the poets as a rhyme for "bliss." It is supposed to signify, in a general way,… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
One of the greatest of poets, Coleridge was one of the wisest of men, and it was not for nothing that he… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“Halpin was pretty generally deprecated as an intellectual black sheep who was likely at any moment to disgrace the flock by bleating… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of humor, the writer aims to produce in… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
LEONINE, adj. Unlike a menagerie lion. Leonine verses are those in which a word in the middle of a line rhymes with… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
YESTERDAY, n. The infancy of youth, the youth of manhood, the entire past of age. But yesterday I should have thought me… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
INCOMPOSSIBLE, adj. Unable to exist if something else exists. Two things are incompossible when the world of being has scope enough for… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
OBSESSED, p.p. Vexed by an evil spirit, like the Gadarene swine and other critics. Obsession was once more common than it is now. Arasthus… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
DECIDE, v.i. To succumb to the preponderance of one set of influences over another set. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
IMMORAL, adj. Inexpedient. Whatever in the long run and with regard to the greater number of instances men find to be generally inexpedient comes… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
REVIEW, v.t. To set your wisdom (holding not a doubt of it./ Although in truth there's neither bone nor skin to it)/ At work… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
CLOCK, n. A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
RUBBISH, n. Worthless matter, such as the religions, philosophies, literatures, arts and sciences of the tribes infesting the regions lying due south from Boreaplas. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
There was never a genius who was not thought a fool until he disclosed himself; whereas he is a fool then only. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
Jealous, adj. Unduly concerned about the preservation of that which can be lost only if not worth keeping. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
RIDICULE, n. Words designed to show that the person of whom they are uttered is devoid of the dignity of character distinguishing him who… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
