1,237 Quotes by Ambrose Bierce

WASHINGTONIAN, n. A Potomac tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing himself for the advantage of good government. In justice to him it should be said that he did not want to.

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

OSTRICH, n. A large bird to which (for its sins, doubtless) nature has denied that hinder toe . . . . The absence of a good working pair of wings is no defect, for, as has been ingeniously pointed out, the ostrich does not fly.

If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: write it.

Confidante: One entrusted by A with the secrets of B confided to herself by C.

They say that hens do cackle loudest when there is nothing vital in the eggs they have laid.

NEPOTISM, n. Appointing your grandmother to office for the good of the party.

GOOD, adj. Sensible, madam, to the worth of this present writer. Alive, sir, to the advantages of letting him alone.

The partisan strife in which the people of the country are permitted to periodically engage does not tend to the development of ugly traits of character, but merely discloses those that preexist.