Quotes from Ambrose Bierce

Unacquainted with grief, I knew not how to appraise my bereavement; I could not rightly estimate the strength of the stroke.

The devil had not only acquired a monopoly of the good music and the good fun, but has of late acquired a controlling interest in the good writing.

What did I fear, and why? — I, to whom the night had been a more familiar face than that of man — I, in whom that element of hereditary superstition from which none of us is altogether free had given to solitude and darkness and silence only a more alluring interest and charm!

In the presence of death reason and philosophy are silent

The pig is taught by sermons and epistles To think the God of Swine has snout and bristles.

NOVEL, n. A short story padded

No hay nada nuevo bajo el sol, pero hay muchas cosas viejas que nosotros no sabemos.

Gondoskodás nélkül ki tudja, milyen mélyre süllyedtem volna a tudatlanságba - még tanár lett volna belÅ'lem a végén.

Cel mai atractiv lucru din lume este fata pe care, instinctiv, o acoperim cu o panza. Cand ajunge si mai atragatoare, fascinanta chiar, o punem la doi metri sub pamant.

He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity.

I was what some foolish persons are pleased to call, and others, more foolish, are pleased to be called - an aristocrat.

1872-ben egy júniusi reggelen meggyilkoltam atyámat - ez még a házasságom elÅ'tti idÅ'ben történt, mikor szüleimmel együtt éltem Wisconsin der?s ege alatt -, és mondhatom, az eset mély nyomokat hagyott bennem.

From childhood to youth is eternity, from youth to manhood, a season. Age comes in a night and is incredible.

EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.

There is no place, it seems, free from the intrusion of Man, who stretches out his hand for everything, even that which is in the air.

Munafik adalah berprasangka tapi sok suci.

TRUTH, n.: An ingenious compound of desirability and appearance. Discovery of truth is the sole purpose of philosophy, which is the most ancient occupation of the human mind and has a fair prospect of existing with increasing activity to the end of time.

I could do nothing but hope that Heaven would be more merciful to us all than we are to one another.

All that day he travelled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.

DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

Let the red dawn surmise What we shall do, When this blue starlight dies And all is through.

So I say a name, even if self-bestowed, is better than a number. In the register of the potter's field I shall soon have both. What wealth!

n. An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.    ACADEMY, n. [from ACADEME] A modern school where football is taught.

He thought he was walking along a dusty road that showed white in the gathering darkness of a summer night. Whence and whither it led, and why he traveled it, he did not know, though all seemed simple and natural, as is the way in dreams; for in the Land Beyond the Bed surprises cease from troubling and the judgment is at rest.