Quotes by Ambrose Bierce

About Ambrose Bierce:

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was 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".
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Fidelity - a virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed.

Ambrose Bierce

Optimism - the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

Coward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs.

Ambrose Bierce

The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

Ambrose Bierce

Philosophy: A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

Ambrose Bierce

An egotist is a person of low taste - more interested in himself than in me.

Ambrose Bierce

Pray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

Litigation: A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.

Ambrose Bierce

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

Prejudice - a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.

Ambrose Bierce

Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.

Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce

What is a democrat? One who believes that the republicans have ruined the country. What is a republican? One who believes that the democrats would ruin the country.

Ambrose Bierce

Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.

Ambrose Bierce

Author Bio

  • NameAmbrose Bierce
  • DescriptionAmerican editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
  • AliasesDod Grile; William Herman
  • BornJune 24, 1842
  • DiedDecember 26, 1913
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Journalist; Aphorist; Poet
  • WorksAn Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge; The Damned Thing; The Devil's Dictionary