Ambrose Bierce Quotes - Page 2

MAN, n.
An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.

Fear has no brains; it is an idiot. The dismal witness that it bears and the cowardly counsel that it whispers are unrelated.

Ah, children of the sunlight and the gaslight, how little you know of the world in which you live!

diplomacy, n.: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

AMNESTY, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.

POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

GRAPESHOT, n. An argument which the future is preparing in answer to the demands of American Socialism.

BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

He thought he was walking along a dusty road that showed white in the gathering darkness of a summer night. Whence and whither it led, and why he traveled it, he did not know, though all seemed simple and natural, as is the way in dreams; for in the Land Beyond the Bed surprises cease from troubling and the judgment is at rest.

ARMOR, n. The kind of clothing worn by a man whose tailor is a blacksmith.

History – An account mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.

God alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the past.

Marriage, n.: The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

Bride, n. - A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.

Inhumanity, n. One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity.

acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.