Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.

—Ambrose Bierce

About Ambrose Bierce

Portrait of Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – c. 1914) was an American author, journalist, and poet. A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction. For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked...

More quotations from Ambrose Bierce

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

—Ambrose Bierce

Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.

—Ambrose Bierce

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.

—Ambrose Bierce

Thinking rationally is often different from "positive thinking," in that it is a realistic assessment of the situation, with a view towards rectifying the problem if possible.

—Ambrose Bierce

Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

—Ambrose Bierce

More quotations tagged with “quotations”

I have suffered a great deal from writers who have quoted this or that sentence of mine either out of its context or in juxtaposition to some incongruous matter which quite distorted my meaning , or destroyed it altogether.

—Alfred North Whitehead

Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.

—Alfred North Whitehead

Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly.

—Simeon Strunsky

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

knowledge quotations

An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.

—Edwin P. Whipple

memory explanation quotations

History

11 Jul 2015 Added