Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Biercewas an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. He wrote the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and compiled a satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary. His vehemence as a critic, his motto "Nothing matters", and the sardonic view of human nature that informed his work, all earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 June 1842
CityMeighs County, OH
CountryUnited States of America
Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and a long walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the others who have tried it.
Feast, n. A festival. A religious celebration usually signalized by gluttony and drunkenness, frequently in honor of some holy person distinguished for abstemiousness.
MUSTANG, n. An indocile horse of the western plains. In English society, the American wife of an English nobleman.
In this world one must have a name; it prevents confusion, even when it does not establish identity. Some, though, are known by numbers, which also seem inadequate distinctions.
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.
The only distinction that democracies reward is a high degree of conformity.
Happiness is lost by criticizing it; sorrow by accepting it.
He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity. A fool is a natural proselyte, but he must be caught young, for his convictions, unlike those of the wise, harden with age.
For every man there is something in the vocabulary that would stick to him like a second skin. His enemies have only to find it.
Age, with his eyes in the back of his head, thinks it wisdom to see the bogs through which he has floundered.
Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue.
LEGACY, n. A gift from one who is legging it out of this vale of tears.
Optimism - the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.
REASON, n. Propensitate of prejudice.