A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms agains himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.
AMBROSE BIERCEIn our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
More Ambrose Bierce Quotes
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Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
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Accordion, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.
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History is an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.
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Litigation: A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.
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A wedding is a ceremony at which two persons undertake to become one, one undertakes to become nothing, and nothing undertakes to become supportable.
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Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.
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Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
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The partisan strife in which the people of the country are permitted to periodically engage does not tend to the development of ugly traits of character, but merely discloses those that preexist.
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PAIN, n. An uncomfortable frame of mind that may have a physical basis in something that is being done to the body, or may be purely mental, caused by the good fortune of another.
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Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
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Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one’s own opinion.
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They say that hens do cackle loudest when there is nothing vital in the eggs they have laid.
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RUMOR, n. A favorite weapon of the assassins of character.
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He who thinks with difficulty believes with alacrity.
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Opposition, n. In politics the party that prevents the government from running amuck by hamstringing it.
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