Thursday, June 24, 2010

Meandering forever . . .

Today is the birthday of Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – 1914?), journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. He is best known for his satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary.

"A man is known by the company he organizes." - Ambrose Bierce

"The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff." - Ambrose Bierce

"A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it." - Ambrose Bierce

"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Ambrose Bierce

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret." - Ambrose Bierce

"The future is that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true, and our happiness is assured." - Ambrose Bierce

"Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver." - Ambrose Bierce

Trivia bit: In 1913, Ambrose Bierce traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on that country's ongoing revolution. While traveling with rebel troops, the elderly writer disappeared without a trace. Rumors of his fate include a suicide in the Grand Canyon, getting shot by Pancho Villa and death by pneumonia.

Bierce image source (1)

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