All Ambrose Bierce Quotes
- 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
- LINEN, n. "A kind of cloth the making of which, when made of hemp, entails a great waste of hemp." Cloth
- SARCOPHAGUS, n. Among the Greeks a coffin which being made of a certain kind of carnivorous stone, had the peculiar property of devouring the body… Among
- RECREATION, n. A particular kind of dejection to relieve a general fatigue. Dejection
- PERORATION, n. The explosion of an oratorical rocket. It dazzles, but to an observer having the wrong kind of nose its most conspicuous peculiarity is… Conspicuous
- PENITENT, adj. Undergoing or awaiting punishment. Awaiting
- VANITY, n. The tribute of a fool to the worth of the nearest ass. Ass
- I think I think, therefore I think I am. Inspirational
- RATIONAL, adj. Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection. Adj Devoid
- RECONCILIATION, n. A suspension of hostilities. An armed truce for the purpose of digging up the dead. Armed
- MACE, n. A staff of office signifying authority. Its form, that of a heavy club, indicates its original purpose and use in dissuading from dissent. Authority
- FLAG, n. A colored rag borne above troops and hoisted on forts and ships. It appears to serve the same purpose as certain signs that… Appears
- PROBOSCIS, n. The rudimentary organ of an elephant which serves him in place of the knife-and-fork that Evolution has as yet denied him. For purposes… Called
- EJECTION, n. An approved remedy for the disease of garrulity. It is also much used in cases of extreme poverty. Approval
- PRESBYTERIAN, n. One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should be called presbyters. Authorities
- MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT, n. Government. Funny
- PERIPATETIC, adj. Walking about. Relating to the philosophy of Aristotle, who, while expounding it, moved from place to place in order to avoid his pupil's… Aristotle
- Gout, a physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient Gout
- SCARABAEUS, n. The sacred beetle of the ancient Egyptians, allied to our familiar "tumble-bug." It was supposed to symbolize immortality, the fact that God knew… Allied
- PRE-ADAMITE, n. One of an experimental and apparently unsatisfactory race of antedated Creation. . . . Little its known of them beyond the fact that… Adamite
- REASON, v.i. To weight probabilities in the scales of desire. Desire
- QUORUM, n. A sufficient number of members of a deliberative body to have their own way and their own way of having it. In the… Body
- CALLOUS, adj. Gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another. Adj Gifted
- RESPIRATOR, n. An apparatus fitted over the nose and mouth of an inhabitant of London, whereby to filter the visible universe in its passage to… Apparatus
- MAGNITUDE, n. Size [that is] purely relative. If everything in the universe were increased 1,000 diameters nothing would be any larger than it was before,… All