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

Quote by Ambrose Bierce

Topics: Ambrose Bierce Quotes

Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen.

Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen.

Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they...

Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they...

Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue.

Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue.

OUT-OF-DOORS, n. That part of one's environment upon which no government has been able to...

OUT-OF-DOORS, n. That part of one's environment upon which no government has been able to...

ZANY, n. A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the...

ZANY, n. A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the...

CONSUL, n. In American politics, a person who having failed to secure and office from...

CONSUL, n. In American politics, a person who having failed to secure and office from...

I think love is the most unbelievable, and critical, thing in civilization. Everything else is...

I think love is the most unbelievable, and critical, thing in civilization. Everything else is...

Example is better than following it.

Example is better than following it.

Heaven lies about us in our infancy and the world begins lying about us pretty...

Heaven lies about us in our infancy and the world begins lying about us pretty...

Clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which...

Clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which...

MINSTREL, adj. Formerly a poet, singer or musician; now a nigger with a color less...

MINSTREL, adj. Formerly a poet, singer or musician; now a nigger with a color less...

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

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

Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which...

Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which...

Dawn: When men of reason go to bed.

Dawn: When men of reason go to bed.

Opportunity is a favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment

Opportunity is a favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment

Dog - a kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and...

Dog - a kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and...

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks...

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks...

You are not permitted to kill a woman who has injured you, but nothing forbids...

You are not permitted to kill a woman who has injured you, but nothing forbids...

Old age is not a joy, but death is not a gain.

Old age is not a joy, but death is not a gain.

The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose...

The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose...

Justice belongs to those who claim it, but let the claimant beware lest he create...

Justice belongs to those who claim it, but let the claimant beware lest he create...

Except for their genitals, I don't know what immutable differences exist between men and women....

Except for their genitals, I don't know what immutable differences exist between men and women....