« All Words Quotes · Ambrose Bierce's Page
Words Quotes by Ambrose Bierce
- Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
- Miss: A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market. Miss, Misses (Mrs.) and Mister (Mr.) are the…
- MONOSYLLABIC, adj. Composed of words of one syllable . . . Commonly Saxon - that is to say, words of a barbarous people destitute of…
- REPARTEE, n. Prudent insult in retort. Practiced by gentlemen with a constitutional aversion to violence, but a strong disposition to offend. In a war of…
- RIDICULE, n. Words designed to show that the person of whom they are uttered is devoid of the dignity of character distinguishing him who utters…
- REPORTER, n. A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words.
- PLATITUDE, n. The fundamental element and special glory of popular literature. A thought that snores in words that smoke. All that is mortal of a…
- URBANITY, n. The kind of civility that urban observers ascribe to dwellers in all cities but New York. Its commonest expression is heard in the…
- PLEONASM, n. An army of words escorting a corporal of thought.
- OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object…
- LOGOMACHY, n. A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem - a kind of contest in…
- TECHNICALITY, n. In an English court a man named Home was tried for slander in having accused his neighbor of murder. His exact words were:…
- TEDIUM, n. Ennui, the state or condition of one that is bored. Many fanciful derivations of the word have been affirmed, but so high an…
- The bold and discerning writer who, recognizing the truth that language must grow by innovation if it grow at all, makes new words and uses…
- Miss, n. A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate they are in the market. Miss, Misses (Mrs.) and Mister (Mr.) are the…
More Words Quotes
- Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what is given by the senses. — Hannah Arendt
- I write the paragraph, then I'm crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then… — Paul Auster
- Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. — Francis of Assisi
- When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something… — Chinua Achebe
- Mr. Bean is at his best when he is not using words, but I am equally at home in both verbal and… — Rowan Atkinson
- I don't think of poetry as a 'rational' activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words or phrases… — Margaret Atwood
- The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is… — Margaret Atwood
- The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living. — Wystan Hugh Auden
- The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences. — Saint Augustine
- Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride… — Jane Austen
- Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the… — Teresa of Avila
- The custom of speaking to God Almighty as freely as with a slave - caring nothing whether the words are suitable or… — Teresa of Avila