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GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These [quills] when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an author, there results a very fair and accurate transcript of the fowl's thought and feeling.

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
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Accurate
Inked
Called
Drawn
Transcript
Feeling
Author
Mechanically
Feelings
Fairs
Quills
Thought
Fair
Fowl
Persons
Across
Goose
Person
Bird
Geese
Writing
Paper
Supplies

More quotes by Ambrose Bierce

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DECALOGUE, n. A series of commandments, ten in number - just enough to permit an intelligent selection for observance, but not enough to embarrass the choice.
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Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Ambrose Bierce
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Habit: A shackle for the free.
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There's no free will, says the philosopher To hang is most unjust. There is no free will, assents the officer We hang because we must.
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IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage, to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound . . . . properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position.
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Patriotism: The first resort of a scoundrel.
Ambrose Bierce
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Behavior, n. Conduct, as determined, not by principle, but by breeding.
Ambrose Bierce
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DEJEUNER, n. The breakfast of an American who has been in Paris. Variously pronounced.
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PITY, n. A failing sense of exemption, inspired by contrast.
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PLEONASM, n. An army of words escorting a corporal of thought.
Ambrose Bierce
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INK, n. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote intellectual crime.
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When you have made a catalogue of your friend's faults it is only fair to supply him with a duplicate, so that he may know yours.
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Patience, n. A minor form of dispair, disguised as a virtue.
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Divorce: a resumption of diplomatic relations and rectification of boundaries.
Ambrose Bierce
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Self-denial is indulgence of a propensity to forego.
Ambrose Bierce
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RADICALISM, n. The conservatism of to-morrow injected into the affairs of to-day.
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HOMŒOPATHIST, n. The humorist of the medical profession.
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Prescription: A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient.
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A single swallow, it is said, devours ten millions of insects every year. The supplying of these insects I take to be a signal instance of the Creator's bounty in providing for the lives of His creatures.
Ambrose Bierce
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EXCEPTION, n. A thing which takes the liberty to differ from other things of its class, as an honest man, a truthful woman, etc.
Ambrose Bierce