Quote

URBANITY, n. The kind of civility that urban observers ascribe to dwellers in all cities but New York. Its commonest expression is heard in the words, I beg your pardon, and it is not consistent with disregard of the rights of others.

Ambrose Bierce

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Expression
Dwellers
Cities
Civility
Heard
Disregard
Rights
Observers
Words
Pardon
Others
Urban
Urbanity
Kind
Consistent
Commonest
York
Ascribe

More quotes by Ambrose Bierce

Image
PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
REVOLUTION, n. A bursting of the boilers which usually takes place when the safety valve of public discussion is closed.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man's choice, and is highly prized.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
WIDOW, n. A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to take humorously, although Christ's tenderness towards widows was one of the most marked features of his character.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
PLAGUE, n. In ancient times a general punishment of the innocent for admonition of their ruler, as in the familiar instance of Pharaoh the Immune. The plague today . . . is merely Nature's fortuitous manifestation of her purposeless objectionableness.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Appetite, n. An instinct thoughtfully implanted by Providence as a solution to the labor question.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
mine, adj. Belonging to me if I can hold or seize it.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
TAKE, v.t. To acquire, frequently by force but preferably by stealth.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
REVEILLE, n. A signal to sleeping soldiers to dream of battlefields no more, but get up and have their blue noses counted.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Prescription: A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
A cheap and easy cynicism rails at everything. The master of the art accomplishes the formidable task of discrimination.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
To be positive is to be mistaken at the top of one's voice.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Impartial - unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a controversy.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
OBSTINATE, adj. Inaccessible to the truth as it is manifest in the splendor and stress of our advocacy.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
LECTURER, n. One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Education, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
REASON, v.i. To weight probabilities in the scales of desire.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Before undergoing a surgical operation, arrange your temporal affairs. You may live.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
LEGACY, n. A gift from one who is legging it out of this vale of tears.
Ambrose Bierce
Image
Abnormal, adj. Not conforming to standard. In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested.
Ambrose Bierce