 Beauty: That power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Prescription: A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Accuse: To affirm another's guilt or unworth; most commonly as a justification of ourselves for having wronged them. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Diplomacy: The patriotic art of lying for one's country. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary, "patriotism" is defined as the last resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Vote: The instrument and symbol of a free man's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Egoist: A person of low taste, more interested in themselves than in me. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Eulogy: Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
| Politeness: The most acceptable hypocrisy. |
| Ambrose Bierce |
