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

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An election is nothing more than the advanced auction of stolen goods.
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Revolution, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.
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REDRESS, n. Reparation without satisfaction.
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GNU, n. An animal of South Africa, which in its domesticated state resembles a horse, a buffalo and a stag. In its wild condition it is something like a thunderbolt, an earthquake and a cyclone.
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Men who expect universal peace through invention of destructive weapons of war are no wiser than one who, noting the improvement of agricultural implements, should prophesy an end to the tilling of the soil.
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RECONCILIATION, n. A suspension of hostilities. An armed truce for the purpose of digging up the dead.
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Self-restraint is indulgence of the propensity to forgo.
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predilection, n. The preparatory stage of disillusion.
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OVATION, n. n ancient Rome, a definite, formal pageant in honor of one who had been disserviceable to the enemies of the nation. A lesser triumph.
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Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify.
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ENVY, n. Emulation adapted to the meanest capacity.
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Congratulations is the civility of envy.
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EXILE, n. One who serves his country by residing abroad, yet is not an ambassador.
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STORY, n. A narrative, commonly untrue.
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Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.
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One engaged in a commercial pursuit. A commercial pursuit is one in which the thing pursued is a dollar.
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FORCE, n. Force is but might, the teacher said p/ That definition's just./ The boy said naught but throught instead,/ Remembering his pounded head:/ Force is not might but must!
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Cribbage, n. A substitute for conversation among those to whom nature has denied ideas.
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REVOLUTION, n. A bursting of the boilers which usually takes place when the safety valve of public discussion is closed.
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POLITICIAN, n. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When he wriggles, he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice.
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