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
Scribbler, n. A professional writer whose views are antagonistic to one's own. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
GOOD, adj. Sensible, madam, to the worth of this present writer. Alive, sir, to the advantages of letting him alone. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
ROMANCE, n. Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
Scriptures - The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
A popular writer writes about what people think. A wise writer offers them something to think about. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“In neither taste nor precision is any man's practice a court of last appeal, for writers all, both great and small, are… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“Beware of the compound adjective, beloved of the tyro and the 'poetess'.” — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: write it. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These, by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and suffused with various… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
LUMINARY, One who throws light upon a subject; as an editor by not writing about it. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
A malefactor who atones for making your writing nonsense by permitting the compositor to make it unintelligible. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
The bold and discerning writer who, recognizing the truth that language must grow by innovation if it grow at all, makes new… — 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
GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These [quills] when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
“The devil had not only acquired a monopoly of the good music and the good fun, but has of late acquired a… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom and Conventionality. Imbued with a decent reverence… — 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
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
OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever… — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
SPOOKER, n. A writer whose imagination concerns itself with supernatural phenomena, especially in the doings of spooks. — Ambrose Bierce Copy Share Image
PLAGIARIZE, v. To take the thought or style of another writer whom one has never, never read. — 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
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
REPORTER, n. A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words. — 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
![“GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These [quills] when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an "author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript of the fowl's thought and feeling.” quote by Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/978/ambrose-bierce-140_accurate_goose-n-a-bird-that-supplies-quills-for_1832802.jpg)
