Ambrose Bierce Quotes

Divination, n. The art of nosing out the occult. Divination is of as many kinds as there are fruit-bearing varieties of the flowering dunce and the early fool.

Sacred, adj. Dedicated to some religious purpose; having a divine character; inspiring solemn thoughts or emotions; as the Cow in India; the Crocodile, the Cat and the Onion of ancient Egypt.

Distance, n. The only thing that the rich are willing for the poor to call theirs, and keep.

Looking-glass, n. A vitreous plane upon which to display a fleeting show for man’s disillusion given.

Predilection, n. The preparatory stage of disillusion.

Aboriginies, n. Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.

Whangdepootenawah, n. In the Ojibwe tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

Outcome, n. A particular type of disappointment -judged by the outcome, the result. This is immortal nonsense; the wisdom of an act is to be judged by the light that the doer had when he performed it.

Diplomacy, n. Lying in state, or the patriotic art of lying for one’s country.