Devil's Dictionary Quotes & Sayings

GHOST, n. The outward and visible sign of an inward fear. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary — Chet Williamson

AMERICANISM, n. 1) The desire to purge America of all those qualities which make it a more or less tolerable place in which to live; 2) The ability to simultaneously kiss ass, follow your boss's orders, swallow a pay cut, piss in a bottle, cower in fear of job loss, and brag about your freedom. — Ambrose Bierce

Database Management System [Origin: Data + Latin basus "low, mean, vile, menial, degrading, ounterfeit."] A complex set of interrelational data structures allowing data to be lost in many convenient sequences while retaining a complete record of the logical relations between the missing items.
From The Devil's DP Dictionary — Stan Kelly-Bootle

'The Devil's Dictionary' reads like a collection of great Twitter posts. And as people do with tweets, they can swipe Bierce's best lines and recite them as nearly their own. The reflected glory of reposting. — Victor LaValle

The Devil will use our words and his dictionary. — Adrian Rogers

Many readers are familiar with the spirit and the letter of the definition of "prayer," as given by Ambrose Bierce in his Devil's Dictionary. It runs like this, and is extremely easy to comprehend: Prayer: A petition that the laws of nature be suspended in favor of the petitioner; himself confessedly unworthy. Everybody can see the joke that is lodged within this entry: The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right. Half-buried in the contradiction is the distressing idea that nobody is in charge, or nobody with any moral authority. The call to prayer is self-cancelling. — Christopher Hitchens

Saint took a seat at the main faro table at the Society club. "What the devil is a ladies' political tea?"
Tristan Carroway, Viscount Dare, finished placing his wager, then sat back, reaching for his glass of
port. "Do I look like a dictionary?"
"You're domesticated." Saint motioned for a glass of his own, despite unfriendly looks from the tables'
other players. "What is it?"
"I'm not domesticated; I'm in love. You should try it. Does wonders for your outlook on life."
"I'll take your word for it, thank you. — Suzanne Enoch