Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.

Quote by Ambrose Bierce

Topics: Ambrose Bierce Quotes

Habit is a shackle for the free.

Habit is a shackle for the free.

ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of...

ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of...

Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not...

Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not...

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

PRESBYTERIAN, n. One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should...

PRESBYTERIAN, n. One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should...

BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think. That which distinguishes the...

BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think what we think. That which distinguishes the...

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

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

MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT, n. Government.

MONARCHICAL GOVERNMENT, n. Government.

Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.

Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.

Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The...

Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The...

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

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

Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.

Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.

Immortality: A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend...

Immortality: A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend...

READING, n. The general body of what one reads. In our country it consists, as...

READING, n. The general body of what one reads. In our country it consists, as...

Experience - the wisdom that enables us to recognise in an undesirable old acquaintance the...

Experience - the wisdom that enables us to recognise in an undesirable old acquaintance the...

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to...

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to...

WASHINGTONIAN, n. A Potomac tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing himself for the advantage...

WASHINGTONIAN, n. A Potomac tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing himself for the advantage...

Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.

Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.

Rum, n. Generically, fiery liquors that produce madness in total abstainers.

Rum, n. Generically, fiery liquors that produce madness in total abstainers.

Abscond - to move in a mysterious way, commonly with the property of another.

Abscond - to move in a mysterious way, commonly with the property of another.