Poems List

Literally, adv . Figuratively, as: “The pond was literally full of fish”; “The ground was literally alive with snakes,” etc.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Liar, n . A lawyer with a roving commission.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Lexicographer, n . A pestilent fellow who, under the pretense of recording some particular stage in the development of a language, does what he can to arrest its growth, stiffen its flexibility, and mechanize its methods. For your lexicographer, having written his dictionary, comes to be considered “as one having authority,” whereas his function is only to make a record, not to give a law. The natural servility of the human understanding having invested him with judicial power, surrenders its right of reason and submits itself to a chronicle as if it were a statute.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Legislator, n . A person who goes to the capital of his country to increase his own; one who makes laws and money.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Lawful, adj . Compatible with the will of a judge having jurisdiction.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Labor, n . One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Joy, n . An emotion variously excited, but in its highest degree arising from the contemplation of grief in another.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Interpreter, n . One who enables two persons of different languages to understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to the interpreter’s advantage for the other to have said.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Impunity, n . Wealth.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Inhumanity, n . One of the signal and characteristic qualities of humanity.

The New Yale Book of Quotations

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Born on June 24, 1842, in Meigs County, Ohio, Ambrose Bierce enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. After the war, he moved to California, where he became an influential journalist and newspaper editor. Bierce gained fame for his scathing style and his distrust of hypocrisy and pretense. His most famous work is 'The Devil's Dictionary,' a collection of satirical and witty definitions that expose human and social flaws. His short stories, such as 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,' are notable for their dark atmosphere, surprising endings, and psychological exploration. Bierce mysteriously disappeared in Mexico in 1913, while traveling to cover the Mexican Revolution, leaving behind a lasting and enigmatic literary legacy.