|
|
|
|
~ABSTAINER, n. A weak person
who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A total abstainer
is one who abstains from everything but abstention . . .
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~BELLADONNA, n. In Italian
a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the
essential identity of the two tongues.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~CAT, n. A soft,
indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong
in the domestic circle.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~FAITH, n. Belief without
evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without
parallel.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~IDIOT, n. A member of a
large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been
dominant and controlling.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~PHILOSOPHY, n. A route of
many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~POLITICIAN, n. An eel in
the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is
reared. When we wriggles he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the
trembling of the edifice. As compared with the statesman, he suffers the
disadvantage of being alive.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~POSITIVE, adj. Mistaken
at the top of one's voice.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~QUOTATION, n. The act of
repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~RELIGION, n. A daughter of
Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred
books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane
writings on which all other faiths are based.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
~TRUTH, n. An ingenious
compound of desirability and appearance. Discovery of truth is the sole
purpose of philosophy, which is the most ancient occupation of the human mind
and has a fair prospect of existing with increasing activity to the end of
time.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary, 1906
|
|
|
History is an account, mostly false, of
events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly
knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
|
|
|
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze
his delusions is called a philosopher.
|
|
|
-Ambrose Bierce
|
|
|
Home
(This is a test effort. The text is copyrighted, I took it from Biography.com. This
will not be the final version of the text I use.)
Writer, journalist, and editor, born in Horse Cave Creek, Ohio,
USA. His service in the Civil War provided him with both material for some of his
finest stories and the disillusioned attitude that coloured much of his writing.
After the war he went to San Francisco where he worked as an editor while writing
for various magazines (1866--72). He then spent three years in London as an editor
(1872--5) and published many stories, old and new. Returning to San Francisco as an
editor and newspaper columnist (1887--96), "Bitter Bierce' became the West Coast's
leading (and dictatorial) literary arbiter before going to Washington, DC, as a
correspondent for the Hearst newspapers (1897--1909). In 1906 he published the
Cynic's Word Book (later retitled The Devil's Dictionary), a collection of his
sardonic-ironic definitions. Never at ease in America, he set off for Mexico in
1913, apparently to find Pancho Villa, the Mexican rebel, and was last seen that
December; it is not known exactly when and how Bierce died.
