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POSITIVISM- A philosophy that denies our knowledge of the Real and affirms our ignorance of the Apparent. Its longest exponent is Comte, its broadest Mill and its thickest Spencer.

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
Real
Denies
Exponent
Mills
Thickest
Longest
Positivism
Apparent
Exponents
Deny
Spencer
Ignorance
Broadest
Philosophy
Affirms
Knowledge
Mill

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An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins.
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Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.
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PROPHECY, n. The art and practice of selling one's credibility for future delivery.
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PRIVATE, n. A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope.
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Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money.
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alone, adj. In bad company.
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LAP, n. One of the most important organs of the female system - an admirable provision of nature for the repose of infancy, but chiefly useful in rural festivities to support plates of cold chicken and heads of adult males.
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Economy, n. Purchasing the barrel of whiskey that you do not need for the price of the cow that you cannot afford.
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Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify.
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Self-restraint is indulgence of the propensity to forgo.
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PHONOGRAPH, n. An irritating toy that restores life to dead noises.
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When God makes a beautiful woman, the devil opens a new register.
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LEGACY, n. A gift from one who is legging it out of this vale of tears.
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IDLENESS, n. A model farm where the devil experiments with seeds of new sins and promotes the growth of staple vices.
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Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.
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FOLLY, n. That gift and faculty divine whose creative and controlling energy inspires Man's mind, guides his actions and adorns his life.
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RICE-WATER, n. A mystic beverage secretly used by our most popular novelists and poets to regulate the imagination and narcotize the conscience.
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Hippogriff, n. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one-quarter eagle, which is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full of surprises.
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CALLOUS, adj. Gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another. When Zeno was told that one of his enemies was no more he was observed to be deeply moved. What! said one of his disciples, you weep at the death of an enemy? Ah, 'tis true, replied the great Stoic but you should see me smile at the death of a friend..
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A penny saved is a penny to squander.
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