Compromise. 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
Related Compromise. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of ... AMBROSE BIERCE Compromise, n. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction ... AMBROSE BIERCE We all are wearing many hundred glasses of different colors. Therefore, everyone sees the world in d... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy.” ~ Ambrose ... J.J. MCAVOY Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he ha... JOSEPH DE MAISTRE Each of us views life through a different lens. What we think is colored by the baggage we carry, an... LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD Before everyone stands a image of what he ought to be. So long as he is not that his peace is not co... RUCKETT Now, for what sins he made satisfaction, for them the justice of God is satisfied; which surely is n... JOHN OWEN An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that... A. W. TOZER An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that... AIDEN WILSON TOZER An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that... A.W. TOZER A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, Nothing else. MAHATMA GANDHI A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, Nothing else. JOHN GALSWORTHY He's the best practitioner I've ever seen of the Cuban style. But I think that what Rigondea... BRIN-JONATHAN BUTLER Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. To do what he did and be able to crash an aircraft going as fast as he was and not create casualties... JOE CHRISTMAN Next generations will not know what is to have childhood. DANIEL MELGAçO What point of morals, of manners, of economy, of philosophy, of
religion, of taste, of the conduct ... RALPH WALDO EMERSON We all are wearing many hundred glasses of different colors. So, everyone see the world in different... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not. PUBLILIUS SYRUS If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what ... JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE He said we could win state. He says what we're all thinking. We love that he's not afraid and holds ... ERIC ZASTOUPIL Ten years ago or so he may have been a hothead but nothing to warrant this; nothing to say there was... DONALD EDIE His heart and hand both open and both free; For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows; Yet give... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE He has such a clear vision of exactly what he wanted out of each character, out of each set, out of ... RYAN REYNOLDS If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what h... JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE If you treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he... JOHANN VON GOETHE If your treat an individual ... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what ... JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were wh... JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE So, I suppose you just have a sense of where it is. And you don’t have to be precise, is that it?�... JUSSI ADLER-OLSEN A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests, and... FAWN M. BRODIE MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he ... AMBROSE BIERCE That gives me great satisfaction. He's an outstanding young man. He has so much to offer and he'll s... DAVE BRANCH No formal course in fiction-writing can equal a close and observant perusal of the stories of Edgar ... H. P. LOVECRAFT Man is not the sum of what he has but the totality of what he does not yet have, of what he might ha... JEAN-PAUL SARTRE Each of us assumes everyone else knows what HE is doing. They all assume we know what WE are doing. ... PHILIP K. DICK The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving. ALBERT EINSTEIN Science is great for us. But for someone who sees the humans for more than one million years, scienc... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA Art is right reason in the doing of work. Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: ... TWO PRECEPTS OF CHARITY, 1273 A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he has got the ... LUDWIG ERHARD A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he has got the ... PAUL GAUGUIN Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what ... JEAN-PAUL SARTRE Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what ... THOMAS AQUINAS Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what... ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what ... SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what ... ST. THOMAS AQUINAS And so we see the paradox that evolution has handed us. If man is the only animal whose consciousnes... ERNEST BECKER Because that is what the President of Afghanistan was saying. If you're here on behalf of the State ... BRAD SHERMAN The difference between an admirer and a follower still remains, no matter where you are. The admirer... SøREN KIERKEGAARD For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught. To say the things he truly f... PAUL ANKA What interested me was not news, but appraisal. What I sought was to grasp the flavor of a man, his ... JOHN GUNTHER What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO The indiscriminate denunciation of the rich is mischievous.... No poor man was ever made richer or h... BENJAMIN HARRISON Netball is an outlet - an escape from the humdrum. There's nothing gives me such a kick. Well, nothi... ANGELA FARLEY The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive. ALBERT EINSTEIN You might well ask just what the hell he was thinking. The answer is, probably nothing at all.He'd p... MARKUS ZUSAK He presented his views to the leadership, ... He went before the Judiciary Committee ... he answered... BILL FRIST Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests ea... EDMUND BURKE In terms of his trying to solve crimes, he was very thorough, very bright, very dedicated to doing h... JIM CLARK As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony
against Clodius, nor did he affirm that... PLUTARCH He wanted to cut his time. What he got was a whole bunch more time. What kind of mental machinery do... DANIEL CASTILLO If you can control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. When you determine ... GEORGE G. WOODSON His thinking was very much ahead of his years. He really knew what was important to the club, the de... ADAM KRUPICKA What will it profit a man if he gains his cause and silences his adversary—if at the same time he ... JOHN NEWTON Todd has been such a pleasant surprise. There's nothing spectacular about his game, but he's very st... DON FOSSELMAN Is not clear what is causing these disparities and we were not able to assess those aspects in this ... DR. GEETANJALI DATTA As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug's gam... T. S. ELIOT For the first time he considers the full emotional dimensions of the day. His life is changing but h... JUSTIN CRONIN This is a world in which each of us, knowing his limitations, knowing the evils of superficiality an... J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his... JOSEPH MORRELL DODGE What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his... JOSEPH M. DODGE The typical capitalists are lovers of power rather than sensual indulgence, but they have the same t... ELLEN RUPPEL SHELL An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means.There is no such thing in the co... GEORGE BERNARD SHAW If a person does not get satisfaction and joy from what he does, his life is colorless SUNDAY ADELAJA We've got to know what he's thinking, ... Whether he likes the city, his landparents. From what he h... JEFF PERRY He is tight with his mom. He has such an old-fashioned sense of responsibility. He is the man of the... BILL ROSS Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ou... FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ou... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY All supposed exterior signs of danger that a bull gives, such as pawing the ground, threatening with... ERNEST HEMINGWAY In reality, for anybody to make real impact, he ought to be real. He ought to know the real position... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH We played him at the point (guard position), which is not his natural position. But he led us in ass... DAVE MACDONALD Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty i... BLAISE PASCAL I think he was very ahead of his time in his thinking because he could see what we were doing to Mot... ALICE BILLINGS Ques eso? Queso? NOLAN J. VANDER HAAGEN How you see the world is a reflection of what is within you. STEPHEN RICHARDS What we've got to do is look at the individual that was indeed detained and what was he doing, regar... RICK LYNCH If you can control a man’s thinking, you don’t have to worry about his actions. If you can deter... CARTER G. WOODSON If you can control a mans thinking, you dont have to worry about his actions. If you can determine w... CARTER WOODSON If you can control a mans thinking, you dont have to worry about his actions. If you can determi... CARTER G. WOODSON I also think he won't be a dictator but that he'll be an open coach. He wants his assistants to do t... COLIN ROY A man does not recover from such devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not. JANE AUSTEN It's pretty much all due to Steve. He has made such a difference. He's let me grow as a point guard.... LEEANN PALO Man is a breathing DUST, while woman is a breathing BONE SOTONYE ANGA Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary The Old Testament does not occupy itself... BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could no... J. R. R. TOLKIEN Outside, under the marquee of the hotel, he stood a moment as he did each night beneath the marquee ... PATRICIA HIGHSMITH There was an adjustment period that may have lasted longer than you had hoped. The Braves feel he wi... BILL LAJOIE If a person gives nothing of what he has, either take nothing or take everything. If a person serves... APURVA GAGLANI What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his... JOSEPH M. DODGE We desire nothing so much as what we ought not to have. PUBLILIUS SYRUS
More Ambrose Bierce
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AMBROSE BIERCE Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. AMBROSE BIERCE You don't have to be stupid to be a Christian, ... but it probably helps. AMBROSE BIERCE Ocean , n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no g... AMBROSE BIERCE Fidelity. A virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed. AMBROSE BIERCE Incompatibility. In matrimony a similarity of tastes, particularly the taste for domination. AMBROSE BIERCE The world has suffered more from the ravages of ill-advised marriages than from virginity. AMBROSE BIERCE Marriage. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, m... AMBROSE BIERCE Bride. A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her. AMBROSE BIERCE What is a democrat? One who believes that the republicans have ruined the country. What is a republi... AMBROSE BIERCE Nominee. A modest gentleman shrinking from the distinction of private life and diligently seeking th... AMBROSE BIERCE Learning. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious. AMBROSE BIERCE Consult. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on. AMBROSE BIERCE Happiness is an agreeable sensation, arising from contemplating the misery of others. AMBROSE BIERCE Life. A spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay. AMBROSE BIERCE Acquaintance: a degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate ... AMBROSE BIERCE An acquaintance is someone we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. AMBROSE BIERCE A temporary insanity curable by marriage. AMBROSE BIERCE Beauty. The power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. AMBROSE BIERCE Let me tell you what a writer is. A writer takes comprehensive views, holds large convictions, makes... AMBROSE BIERCE Corporation. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. AMBROSE BIERCE Don't steal; thou it never thus compete successfully in business. Cheat. AMBROSE BIERCE Philanthropist. A rich (and usually bald) old gentleman who has trained himself to grin while his co... AMBROSE BIERCE Age. That period of life in which we compound for the vices that remain by reviling those we have no... AMBROSE BIERCE Success is the one unpardonable sin against one's fellows. AMBROSE BIERCE Education is that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understan... AMBROSE BIERCE Destiny. A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure. AMBROSE BIERCE Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pi... AMBROSE BIERCE Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify. AMBROSE BIERCE Erudition. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull. AMBROSE BIERCE Saint. A dead sinner revised and edited. AMBROSE BIERCE Insurrection. An unsuccessful revolution; disaffection's failure to substitute misrule for bad gover... AMBROSE BIERCE Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. AMBROSE BIERCE Impiety. Your irreverence toward my deity. AMBROSE BIERCE Deliberation. The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is buttered on. AMBROSE BIERCE Take not God's name in vain; select a time when it will have effect. AMBROSE BIERCE A prejudice is a vagrant opinion without visible means of support. AMBROSE BIERCE Bigot, one who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. AMBROSE BIERCE Pray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly un... AMBROSE BIERCE Eulogy. Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration t... AMBROSE BIERCE Admiration; is our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves. AMBROSE BIERCE To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result. AMBROSE BIERCE A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing. AMBROSE BIERCE All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher. AMBROSE BIERCE A lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves a glorious success. AMBROSE BIERCE Peace, in international affairs, is a period of cheating between two periods of fighting. AMBROSE BIERCE Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue. AMBROSE BIERCE Optimism. The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly. AMBROSE BIERCE An optimist is a proponent of the doctrine that black is white. AMBROSE BIERCE They say that hens do cackle loudest when there is nothing vital in the eggs they have laid. AMBROSE BIERCE Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others. AMBROSE BIERCE Heaven lies about us in our infancy and the world begins lying about us pretty soon afterward. AMBROSE BIERCE As records of courts and justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolen... AMBROSE BIERCE Before undergoing a surgical operation, arrange your temporal affairs. You may live. AMBROSE BIERCE Politeness -- The most acceptable hypocrisy. AMBROSE BIERCE A man is known by the company he organizes. AMBROSE BIERCE Logic, n. The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapaciti... AMBROSE BIERCE Enthusiasm. A distemper of youth, curable by small doses of repentance in connection with outward ap... AMBROSE BIERCE Egotist. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than me. AMBROSE BIERCE An egotist is a person interested in himself than in me! AMBROSE BIERCE Duty. That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire. AMBROSE BIERCE Opiate. An unlocked door in the prison of Identity. It leads into the jail yard. AMBROSE BIERCE Insurance: An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comforta... AMBROSE BIERCE Backbite. To speak of a man as you find him when he can't find you. AMBROSE BIERCE Alien. An American sovereign in his probationary state. AMBROSE BIERCE Miss: A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market. Miss, Mis... AMBROSE BIERCE Witticism. A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted and seldom noted; what the Philistine is please... AMBROSE BIERCE Wit. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out. AMBROSE BIERCE A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man, who has no gills. AMBROSE BIERCE Impartial. Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a cont... AMBROSE BIERCE Dog. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the worl... AMBROSE BIERCE Physician -- One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well. AMBROSE BIERCE Divorce. A resumption of diplomatic relations and rectification of boundaries. AMBROSE BIERCE Consul. In American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is give... AMBROSE BIERCE Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscien... AMBROSE BIERCE A cynic is a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, and not as they ought to be. AMBROSE BIERCE Confidante. One entrusted by A with the secrets of B confided to herself by C. AMBROSE BIERCE The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling. AMBROSE BIERCE Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is ... AMBROSE BIERCE A funeral is a pageant whereby we attest our respect for the dead by enriching the undertaker. AMBROSE BIERCE An accident is an inevitable occurrence due to the actions of immutable natural laws. AMBROSE BIERCE To apologize is to lay the foundation for a future offense. AMBROSE BIERCE An account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly k... AMBROSE BIERCE Historian. A broad -- gauge gossip. AMBROSE BIERCE Habit is a shackle for the free. AMBROSE BIERCE Laughter -- An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarti... AMBROSE BIERCE Litigant. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones. AMBROSE BIERCE Appeal. In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw. AMBROSE BIERCE Trial. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, ad... AMBROSE BIERCE Experience is a revelation in the light of which we renounce our errors of youth for those of age. AMBROSE BIERCE Experience. The wisdom that enables us to recognize in an undesirable old acquaintance the folly tha... AMBROSE BIERCE The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. AMBROSE BIERCE PROPHECY, n. The art and practice of selling one's credibility for future delivery. AMBROSE BIERCE When in Rome, do as Rome does. AMBROSE BIERCE To be positive: to be mistaken at the top of one's voice. AMBROSE BIERCE Censor, n. An officer of certain governments, employed to supress the works of genius. Among the Rom... AMBROSE BIERCE Bore -- a person who talks when you wish him to listen. AMBROSE BIERCE Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by frie... AMBROSE BIERCE Irreligion. The principal one of the great faiths of the world. AMBROSE BIERCE Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things withou... AMBROSE BIERCE Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money. AMBROSE BIERCE Genealogy. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his o... AMBROSE BIERCE Absurdity. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. AMBROSE BIERCE Abstainer. A weak man who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. AMBROSE BIERCE Woman absent is woman dead. AMBROSE BIERCE The covers of this book are too far apart. AMBROSE BIERCE Abscond. To move in a mysterious way, commonly with the property of another. AMBROSE BIERCE Creditor. One of a tribe of savages dwelling beyond the Financial Straits and dreaded for their deso... AMBROSE BIERCE A coward is one who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. AMBROSE BIERCE Conservative. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a Liberal, who wi... AMBROSE BIERCE The Senate is a body of old men charged with high duties and misdemeanors. AMBROSE BIERCE Compromise. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of ... AMBROSE BIERCE Alliance. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserte... AMBROSE BIERCE ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply in... AMBROSE BIERCE Acquaintance is a degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor and obscure, and intima... AMBROSE BIERCE ARSENIC, n. A kind of cosmetic greatly affected by the ladies, whom it greatly affects in turn."Eat ... AMBROSE BIERCE Convent. A place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the sin of idleness. AMBROSE BIERCE Religion. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable. AMBROSE BIERCE International arbitration may be defined as the substitution of many burning questions for a smoulde... AMBROSE BIERCE DIPLOMACY, n. Lying in state, or the patriotic art of lying for one's country. AMBROSE BIERCE Calamities are of two kinds. Misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others. AMBROSE BIERCE Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others. AMBROSE BIERCE A bride is a woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her. AMBROSE BIERCE Painting, n.: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and exposing them to the critic. AMBROSE BIERCE There are 4 kinds of Homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy. AMBROSE BIERCE FIDELITY, n. A virtue peculiar to those who are about to be betrayed. AMBROSE BIERCE ZOOLOGY, n. The science and history of the animal kingdom, including its king, the House Fly ("Mus... AMBROSE BIERCE HIPPOGRIFF, n. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. The griffin was a com... AMBROSE BIERCE ZENITH, n. The point in the heavens directly overhead to a man standing or a growing cabbage. A m... AMBROSE BIERCE YANKEE, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the So... AMBROSE BIERCE Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo AMBROSE BIERCE Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscie... AMBROSE BIERCE One who is in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. AMBROSE BIERCE OBSESSED, p.p. Vexed by an evil spirit, like the Gadarene swine and other critics. Obsession was onc... AMBROSE BIERCE Optimism. The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly. AMBROSE BIERCE Women and foxes, being weak, are distinguished by superior tact. AMBROSE BIERCE Saint: A dead sinner revised and edited. AMBROSE BIERCE QUEEN, n. A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king, and through whom it is ruled wh... AMBROSE BIERCE When you are ill make haste to forgive your enemies, for you may recover. AMBROSE BIERCE Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The question of... AMBROSE BIERCE Electricity is the power that causes all natural phenomena not known to be caused by something else. AMBROSE BIERCE ECCENTRICITY, n. A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapaci... AMBROSE BIERCE LAND, n. A part of the earth's surface, considered as property. The theory that land is property s... AMBROSE BIERCE The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling. AMBROSE BIERCE Birth: The first and direst of all disasters. AMBROSE BIERCE Dawn: When men of reason go to bed. AMBROSE BIERCE Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affai... AMBROSE BIERCE Amnesty, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish. AMBROSE BIERCE Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. AMBROSE BIERCE Admiral. That part of a warship which does the talking while the figurehead does the thinking. AMBROSE BIERCE Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable. AMBROSE BIERCE Positive, adj.: Mistaken at the top of one's voice. AMBROSE BIERCE Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence. AMBROSE BIERCE Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake ... AMBROSE BIERCE Jealous, adj. Unduly concerned about the preservation of that which can be lost only if not worth ke... AMBROSE BIERCE Dog - a kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the wor... AMBROSE BIERCE Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. AMBROSE BIERCE Perseverance - a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success. AMBROSE BIERCE Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities ... AMBROSE BIERCE Prescription: A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the... AMBROSE BIERCE Lawsuit: A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage. AMBROSE BIERCE Compromise, n. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction ... AMBROSE BIERCE The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up. AMBROSE BIERCE TELEPHONE n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeab... AMBROSE BIERCE Egotist , n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. AMBROSE BIERCE Positive , adj.: Mistaken at the top of one's voice. AMBROSE BIERCE Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. AMBROSE BIERCE Sweater , n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. AMBROSE BIERCE Sabbath - a weekly festival having its origin in the fact that God made the world in six days and wa... AMBROSE BIERCE The small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify we give the name of knowledge. AMBROSE BIERCE