There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don’t know. Ambrose Bierce

There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don’t know.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

today’s birthday: Ambrose Bierce (1842)

Ambrose Bierce (1842)

Author of humorous sketches, horror stories, and tales of the supernatural, Bierce was an American journalist, satirist, and short story writer. Among his best known works are the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and The Devil’s Dictionary, a volume of ironic definitions that showcase his sardonic outlook. In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico for a firsthand perspective on its ongoing revolution and disappeared without a trace. What are some theories about how he died? More… Discuss

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

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

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

A must read FINALLY here: The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (Full Audiobook)

The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (Full Audiobook)

BooksterAudio

“Download Audiobook Here: http://amzn.to/HvGfex”

The Devil’s Dictionary, An Imperfect Conflagration, The Boarded Window, and Death – here are four of the best works by Ambrose Bierce, one of the most brilliant and incisive writers ever. This volume collects one example of each type of composition for which Bierce is most famed: a hilarious satire, a bone-chilling horror story, a sardonic piece of humor, and a macabre poem. Renowned artist Gahan Wilson, whose work finds the comic and the eerir in the most common of situations, brings the perfect, blackly humorous touch to Bierce’s eccentrically unique visions.

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From LIFE: The greatest unsolved Mysteries of all time: How, When and Where Did Ambrose Bierce Die-Story and photo

From LIFE: The greatest unsolved Mysteries of all time: How, When and Where Did Ambrose Bierce Die-Story and photo

 

 

quotation: Brain, n.: An apparatus with which we think we think. Ambrose Bierce

Brain, n.: An apparatus with which we think we think.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

quotation: Egotist, n.: A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Stay real no matter what, cause you’re not better than the community you live in (and hopefully you’re able to keep yourselves that way safe)

quotation: Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions (The Devil’s Dictionary). Ambrose Bierce

Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

quotation: Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age. Ambrose Bierce

Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Corporation: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. Ambrose Bierce

Corporation: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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quotation: Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.

Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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quotation: “Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.” Ambrose Bierce

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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Quotation: Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage. Ambrose Bierce

Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

QUOTATION: Ambrose Bierce

Academy: A modern school where football is taught.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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QUOTATION: Ambrose Bierce

The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

 

QUOTATION: Ambrose Bierce ABOUT NOSES AND THEIR FAVORITE RETREAT!

It has been observed that one’s nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of others, from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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QUOTATION: Ambrose Bierce

A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer, but if it is a good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good, it is good enough for the good writer.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

 

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce

The Past is the region of sobs, the Future is the realm of song. In the one crouches Memory, clad in sackcloth and ashes, mumbling penitential prayer; in the sunshine of the other Hope flies with a free wing, beckoning to temples of success and bowers of ease.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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Quotation/Definition: Ambrose Bierce

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

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce about revolutions’ beneficiaries

Revolutions are usually accompanied by a considerable effusion of blood, but are accounted worth it—this appraisement being made by beneficiaries whose blood had not the mischance to be shed.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

 

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce on Accountability

Accountability, n.: The mother of caution.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce on man and provider

The male of the human race is commonly known (to the female) as Mere Man. The genus has two varieties: good providers and bad providers.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce on appeals and a better luck next throw of dice !

Appeal, v.t.: In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on Experience as an “undesirable Old Acquaintance”

Experience, n.: The wisdom that enables us to recognize as an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on innate ideas

The doctrine of innate ideas is one of the most admirable faiths of philosophy, being itself an innate idea and therefore inaccessible to disproof…Among innate ideas may be mentioned the belief…in the greatness of one’s country, in the superiority of one’s civilization, in the importance of one’s personal affairs, and in the interesting nature of one’s diseases.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

 

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on the first letter of the ILphabet (think about it: shouldn’t the alphabet start with the Letter I?)

I is the first letter of the alphabet, the first word of the language, the first thought of the mind, the first object of affection.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on offense and pardon as….economic value! ($,$,$)

 

Amnesty, n.: The state’s magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

 

Quotation: Ambrose Bierce: “Circus”, according to the Devil’s Dictionary

Circus, n.: A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women, and children acting the fool.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Ambrose Bierce (The Devil’s Dictionary): on atropine, strychnine and…other poisons

Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Today’s Quotation: The Devil’s Dictionary on “Grammar” (Ambrose Bierce)

Grammar, n.: A system of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet for the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distinction.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Today’s Quotation: Ambrose Bierce About clocks and man

Clock, n.: A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time remains to him.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation of theDay: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) – Definition of “COMPROMISE”

Compromise, n.: Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of thinking he has got what he ought not to have, and is deprived of nothing except what was justly his due.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation of the Day: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) freedom from habit…or Habits: Stop wearing them!

Habit, n.: A shackle for the free.

Habit, n.: A shackle for the free.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

“Yes, I have something to say about this: The guy is right!  Good habits, bad habits, short habits or long (and they tend to be long, very long), they all make you drag your feet, when they take put much weight on your shoulders and lead around your ankles.

So I’d say: let’s take a break from a habit today, see if you consider going back to it tomorrow.”   

Today’s Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) on individuality

In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Quotation of the Day: Ambrose Bierce: “Edible”…defined

Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

Today’s Quotation: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) – “Acquaintance”, Defined

Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842^[2] – after December 26, 1913^[1]) was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. Today, he is best known for his short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and his satirical lexicon, The Devil’s Dictionary. The sardonic view of human nature that informed his work – along with his vehemence as a critic, with his motto “nothing matters” – earned him the nickname “Bitter Bierce.”

 

Despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, Bierce was known to encourage younger writers, including poet George Sterling and fiction writer W. C. Morrow. Bierce employed a distinctive style of writing, especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning (see cold open), dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.

 

In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on that country’s ongoing revolution. While traveling with rebel troops, the elderly writer disappeared without a trace.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce)

 

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

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