SIREN, n. One of several musical prodigies famous for a vain attempt to dissuade Odysseus from a life on the ocean wave. Figuratively, any lady of splendid promise, dissembled purpose and disappointing performance.

Quote by Ambrose Bierce

Topics: Famous Quotes

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

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

Tenacity is a certain quality of the human hand in its relation to the coin...

Tenacity is a certain quality of the human hand in its relation to the coin...

Bore, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Bore, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

FUNERAL, n. A pageant whereby we attest our respect for the dead by enriching the...

FUNERAL, n. A pageant whereby we attest our respect for the dead by enriching the...

Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man -...

Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man -...

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands, you are safe, for you...

While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands, you are safe, for you...

Laziness. Unwarranted repose of manner in a person of low degree.

Laziness. Unwarranted repose of manner in a person of low degree.

Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable.

Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable.

USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom...

USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom...

Example is better than following it.

Example is better than following it.

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.

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...

ARISTOCRACY, n. Government by the best men. (In this sense the word is obsolete; so...

ARISTOCRACY, n. Government by the best men. (In this sense the word is obsolete; so...

MUGWUMP, n. In politics one afflicted with self-respect and addicted to the vice of independence....

MUGWUMP, n. In politics one afflicted with self-respect and addicted to the vice of independence....

Scriptures: the sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane...

Scriptures: the sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane...

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.

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...

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

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

Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of.

Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of.