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Responsibility, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.

Ambrose Bierce

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Ambrose Bierce
Born: 1842
Born: June 24
Aphorist
Journalist
Poet
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Meigs County
Ohio
Dod Grile
William Herman
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Days
Shoulders
Responsibility
Neighbor
Stars
Burden
Upon
Easily
Star
Unload
Luck
Customary
Fortune
Shifted
Fate
Astrology

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Nonsense, n. The objections that are urged against this excellent dictionary.
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It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of others from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.
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ECCENTRICITY, n. A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity.
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At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to be miserable to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
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RADIUM, n. A mineral that gives off heat and stimulates the organ that a scientist is a fool with.
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You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest.
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A comely female inhabiting the Mohammedan Paradise to make things cheery for the good Mussulman, whose belief in her existence marks a noble discontent with his earthly spouse, whom he denies a soul.
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Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference
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A miracle is an act or event out of the order of nature and unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with four aces and a king.
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Mayonnaise: One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.
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Eulogy. Praise of a person who has either the advantages of wealth and power, or the consideration to be dead.
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Bacchus, n.: A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for getting drunk.
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MISDEMEANOR, n. An infraction of the law having less dignity than a felony and constituting no claim to admittance into the best criminal society.
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critic, n. A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries to please him.
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MALTHUSIAN, adj. Pertaining to Malthus and his doctrines, who believed in artificially limiting population, but found that it could not be done by talking. Herod of Judea, all the famous soldiers have been practical exponents of the Malthusian idea.
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Consult: To seek approval for a course of action already decided upon.
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TRUST, n. In American politics, a large corporation composed in greater part of thrifty working men, widows of small means, orphans in the care of guardians and the courts, with many similar malefactors and public enemies.
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MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.
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