Ambrose Bierce

Peace, in international affairs, is a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

Peace, in international affairs, is a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

YANKEE, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States read more

YANKEE, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)

Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred read more

Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder.

OBSESSED, p.p. Vexed by an evil spirit, like the Gadarene swine and other critics. Obsession was once more common than read more

OBSESSED, p.p. Vexed by an evil spirit, like the Gadarene swine and other critics. Obsession was once more common than it is now. Arasthus tells of a peasant who was occupied by a different devil for every day in the week, and on Sundays by two. They were frequently seen, always walking in his shadow, when he had one, but were finally driven away by the village notary, a holy man; but they took the peasant with them, for he vanished utterly. A devil thrown out of a woman by the Archbishop of Rheims ran through the trees, pursued by a hundred persons, until the open country was reached, where by a leap higher than a church spire he escaped into a bird. A chaplain in Cromwell's army exorcised a soldier's obsessing devil by throwing the soldier into the water, when the devil came to the surface. The soldier, unfortunately, did not.

Destiny. A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.

Destiny. A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.