1,237 Quotes by Ambrose Bierce

PITY, n. A failing sense of exemption, inspired by contrast.

PIRACY, n. Commerce without its folly-swaddles, just as God made it.

FORMA PAUPERIS. [Latin] In the character of a poor person - a method by which a litigant without money for lawyers is considerately permitted to lose his case.

Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills.

PLEONASM, n. An army of words escorting a corporal of thought.

No country is so wild and difficult but men will make it a theater of war.

Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

URBANITY, n. The kind of civility that urban observers ascribe to dwellers in all cities but New York. Its commonest expression is heard in the words, "I beg your pardon," and it is not consistent with disregard of the rights of others.

ADMINISTRATION, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. A man of straw, proof against bad-egging and dead-catting.