Ambrose Bierce Quotes, Art Quotes, Tasks Quotes

A cheap and easy cynicism rails at everything. The master of the art accomplishes the formidable task of discrimination.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Art Quotes , Tasks Quotes

predicament, n. The wage of consistency.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Consistency Quotes , Habit Quotes

MONARCH, n. A person engaged in reigning. Formerly the monarch ruled, as the derivation of the word attests, and as many subjects have had occasion to learn.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Learning Quotes , Persons Quotes

Men who expect universal peace through invention of destructive weapons of war are no wiser than one who, noting the improvement of agricultural implements, should prophesy an end to the tilling of the soil.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , War Quotes , Men Quotes

Friendless. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Truth Quotes , Common Sense Quotes

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 objections. A needless precaution - they knew no more of the matter than he.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Philosophy Quotes , Order Quotes

J, n. A consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel . . . from a Latin verb, "jacere", "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the dog's tail assumes that shape.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Dog Quotes , Latin Quotes

When in Rome, do as Rome does.

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OWE, v. To have (and to hold) a debt. The word formerly signified not indebtedness, but possession; it meant "own," and in the minds of debtors there is still a good deal of confusion between assets and liabilities.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Confusion Quotes , Confusing Quotes

MANNA, n. A food miraculously given to the Israelites in the wilderness. When it was no longer supplied to them they settled down and tilled the soil, fertilizing it, as a rule, with the bodies of the original occupants.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Food Quotes , Cooking Quotes

A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority. It was originally a mace with which the sovereign admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the bones of their proponents.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Kings Quotes , Office Quotes

Alligator: The crocodile of America, superior in every detail to the crocodile of the effete monarchies of the Old World.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , America Quotes , Details Quotes

Something that is supposed to typify or stand for something else. Many symbols are mere "survivals" - as funereal urns carved on memorial monuments. We cannot stop making them, but we can give them a name that conceals our helplessness.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Names Quotes , Giving Quotes

Worms'-Meat, n. The finished product of which we are the raw material. The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the Granitarium. Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure that houses it, but "this too must pass away." Probably the silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for himself. The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but only accentuates by contrast the foreknown futility.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , House Quotes , Passing Away Quotes

Riven and torn with cannon-shot, the trunks of the trees protruded bunches of splinters like hands, the fingers above the wound interlacing with those below.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Hands Quotes , Tree Quotes

A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Affair Quotes , Inactivity Quotes

Curiosity, n. An objectionable quality of the female mind. The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Passion Quotes , Soul Quotes

Liar: A lawyer with a roving commission.

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OLD, adj. In that stage of usefulness which is not inconsistent with general inefficiency, as an "old man". Discredited by lapse of time and offensive to the popular taste, as an "old" book.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Time Quotes , Book Quotes

He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity.

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Tags : Ambrose Bierce Quotes , Believe Quotes , Thinking Quotes