Ambrose Bierce Quotes

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Ambrose Bierce

Profession : Journalist

Birth : June 24, 1842

Litigant. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.

Ambrose Bierce

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.

Ambrose Bierce

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

Ambrose Bierce

The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations.

Ambrose Bierce

Duty - that which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire.

Ambrose Bierce

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

Ambrose Bierce

Consul - in American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country.

Ambrose Bierce

Trial. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors.

Ambrose Bierce

Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.

Ambrose Bierce

Ambidextrous, adj.: Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left.

Ambrose Bierce

Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.

Ambrose Bierce

I never said all Democrats were saloonkeepers. What I said was that all saloonkeepers are Democrats.

Ambrose Bierce

We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect.

Ambrose Bierce

A man is known by the company he organizes.

Ambrose Bierce

Ability is commonly found to consist mainly in a high degree of solemnity.

Ambrose Bierce

Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth.

Ambrose Bierce

Genius - to know without having learned; to draw just conclusions from unknown premises; to discern the soul of things.

Ambrose Bierce

Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

Divorce: a resumption of diplomatic relations and rectification of boundaries.

Ambrose Bierce