1,237 Quotes by Ambrose Bierce

SORCERY, n. The ancient prototype and forerunner of political influence. It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes was punished by torture and death.

Worms'-Meat, n. The finished product of which we are the raw material. The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the Granitarium. Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure that houses it, but "this too must pass away." Probably the silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for himself. The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but only accentuates by contrast the foreknown futility.

Sabbath - a weekly festival having its origin in the fact that God made the world in six days and was arrested on the seventh.

The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses.

DECIDE, v.i. To succumb to the preponderance of one set of influences over another set.

According to the most trustworthy statistics the number of adult Dullards in the United States is but little short of thirty millions, including the statisticians.

Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

The liberality of one who has much, in permitting one who has nothing to get all that he can.

READING, n. The general body of what one reads. In our country it consists, as a rule, of Indiana novels, short stories in "dialect" and humor in slang.