Ambrose Gwinett Bierce Quotes

SEVERALTY, n. Separateness, as, lands in severalty, i.e., lands held individually, not in joint ownership. Certain tribes of Indians are believed now to be sufficiently civilized to have in severalty the lands that they have hitherto held as tribal organizations, and could not sell to the Whites for waxen beads and potato whiskey.Lo the poor Indian whose unsuited mind Saw death before, hell and the grave behind Whom thrifty settler ne'er besought to stay -- His small belongings their appointed prey Whom Dispossession, with alluring wile, Persuaded elsewhere every little while His fire unquenched and his undying worm By land in severalty (charming term) Are cooled and killed, respectively, at last, And he to his new holding anchored fast

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REPROBATION, n. In theology, the state of a luckless mortal prenatally damned. The doctrine of reprobation was taught by Calvin, whose joy in it was somewhat marred by the sad sincerity of his conviction that although some are foredoomed to perdition, others are predestined to salvation.

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Fork An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth.

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PAST, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance. A moving line called the Present parts it from an imaginary period known as the Future. These two grand divisions of Eternity, of which the one is continually effacing the other, are entirely unlike. The one is dark with sorrow and disappointment, the other bright with prosperity and joy. 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. Yet the Past is the Future of yesterday, the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one --the knowledge and the dream.

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OBLIVION, n. The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest. Fame's eternal dumping ground.

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FRIENDLESS, adj. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.

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DIAPHRAGM, n. A muscular partition separating disorders of the chest from disorders of the bowels.

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UNITARIAN, n. One who denies the divinity of a Trinitarian.

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RIMER, n. A poet regarded with indifference or disesteem.

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REVOLUTION, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.... the substitution of the rule of an Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch.

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PHOENIX, n. The classical prototype of the modern 'small hot bird.'

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NOISE, n. A stench in the ear. Undomesticated music. The chief product and authenticating sign of civilization.

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DEBAUCHEE, n. One who has so earnestly pursued pleasure that he has had the misfortune to overtake it.

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