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A Man Is Known By The Company He Organizes.
-Ambrose Bierce
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A Man Is Known

Ambrose Bierce
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A Man Is Known By The Company He Organizes.

Understanding the Quote: "a man is known by the company he organizes...."

This quote by Ambrose Bierce reflects deeply on the theme of business. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Business, Work, Men, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Ambrose Bierce interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce is celebrated for insightful thoughts on business and work. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Business
Work
Men
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Perfection, N. An Imaginary State Of Quality Distinguished From The Actual By An Element Known As Excellence; An Attribute Of The Critic. The Editor Of An English Magazine Having Received A Letter Pointing Out The Erroneous Nature Of His Views And Style, And Signed "perfection," Promptly Wrote At The Foot Of The Letter: "i Don't Agree With You," And Mailed It To Matthew Arnold.
Views
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Feet
Rational, Adj. Devoid Of All Delusions Save Those Of Observation, Experience And Reflection.
Reflection
Experience
Observation
Pastime, N. A Device For Promoting Dejection. Gentle Exercise For Intellectual Debility.
Exercise
Intellectual
Gentle
Non-combatant, N. A Dead Quaker.
Quaker
Optimist – A Proponent Of The Doctrine That Black Is White.
Optimistic
White
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Hibernate, V. I. To Pass The Winter Season In Domestic Seclusion. There Have Been Many Singular Popular Notions About The Hibernation Of Various Animals. Many Believe That The Bear Hibernates During The Whole Winter And Subsists By Mechanically Sucking Its Paws. It Is Admitted That It Comes Out Of Its Retirement In The Spring So Lean That It Has To Try Twice Before It Can Cast A Shadow.
Retirement
Spring
Believe
Pantaloons, N. A Nether Habiliment Of The Adult Civilized Male. The Garment Is Tubular And Unprovided With Hinges At The Points Of Flexion. Supposed To Have Been Invented By A Humorist. Called Trousers By The Enlightened And Pants By The Unworthy.
Adults
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Friendless. Having No Favors To Bestow. Destitute Of Fortune. Addicted To Utterance Of Truth And Common Sense.
Truth
Common Sense
Utterance
Serial, N. A Literary Work, Usually A Story That Is Not True, Creeping Through Several Issues Of A Newspaper Or Magazine.
Work
Issues
Stories
Mesmerism, N. Hypnotism Before It Wore Good Clothes, Kept A Carriage And Asked Incredulity To Dinner.
Science
Clothes
Dinner
Mouse, N. An Animal Which Strews Its Path With Fainting Women.
Science
Animal
Path
Rome Has Seven Sacraments, But The Protestant Churches, Being Less Prosperous, Feel That They Can Afford Only Two, And These Of Inferior Sanctity.
Rome
Two
Church
Joss-sticks- Small Sticks Burned By The Chinese In Their Pagan Tomfoolery, In Imitation Of Certain Sacred Rites Of Our Holy Religion.
Chinese
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Rubbish, N. Worthless Matter, Such As The Religions, Philosophies, Literatures, Arts And Sciences Of The Tribes Infesting The Regions Lying Due South From Boreaplas.
Art
Philosophy
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The Circus A Place Where Horses, Ponies And Elephants Are Permitted To See Men, Women And Children Acting The Fool.
Horse
Children
Animal
Molecule, N.: The Ultimate, Indivisible Unit Of Matter. It Is Distinguished From The Corpuscle, Also The Ultimate, Indivisible Unit Of Matter, By A Closer Resemblance To The Atom, Also The Ultimate, Indivisible Unit Of Matter ... The Ion Differs From The Molecule, The Corpuscle And The Atom In That It Is An Ion.
Ions
Molecules
Atoms
Enthusiasm - A Distemper Of Youth, Curable By Small Doses Of Repentance In Connection With Outward Applications Of Experience.
Reality
Connections
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Happiness Has Not To All The Same Name: To Youth She Is Known As The Future; Age Knows Her As The Dream.
Happiness
Dream
Names
Potable, N. Suitable For Drinking. Water Is Said To Be Potable; Indeed, Some Declare It Our Natural Beverage, Although Even They Find It Palatable Only When Suffering From The Recurrent Disorder Known As Thirst, For Which It Is A Medicine.
Drinking
Medicine
Water
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. Wherefore The Lexicographer Adviseth A Striving Toward The Straiter [sic] Resemblance Of The Average Man Than He Hath To Himself. Whoso Attaineth Thereto Shall Have Peace, The Prospect Of Death And The Hope Of Hell.
Independent
Men
Average
Prejudice - A Vagrant Opinion Without Visible Means Of Support.
Mean
Support
Religion
Grave, N. A Place In Which The Dead Are Laid To Await The Coming Of The Medical Student.
Science
Students
Medical
Quotient, N. A Number Showing How Many Times A Sum Of Money Belonging To One Person Is Contained In The Pocket Of Another - Usually About As Many Times As It Can Be Got There.
Money
Numbers
Pockets
Who Never Doubted, Never Half Believed. Where Doubt Is, There Truth Is - It Is Her Shadow.
Doubt
Shadow
Half
Loss, N. Privation Of That Which We Had, Or Had Not. Thus, In The Latter Sense, It Is Said Of A Defeated Candidate That He "lost His Election".
Loss
Losing
Election
Monosyllabic, Adj. Composed Of Words Of One Syllable . . . Commonly Saxon - That Is To Say, Words Of A Barbarous People Destitute Of Ideas And Incapable Of Any But The Most Elementary Sentiments And Emotions.
Ideas
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Emotion
Love, N. A Temporary Insanity Curable By Marriage Or By Removal Of The Patient From The Influences Under Which He Incurred The Disorder. This Disease, Like Caries And Many Other Ailments, Is Prevalent Only Among Civilized Races Living Under Artificial Conditions; Barbarous Nations Breathing Pure Air And Eating Simple Food Enjoy Immunity From Its Ravages. It Is Sometimes Fatal, But More Frequently To The Physician Than To The Patient.
Life
Simple
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Peripatetic, Adj. Walking About. Relating To The Philosophy Of Aristotle, Who, While Expounding It, Moved From Place To Place In Order To Avoid His Pupil's Objections. A Needless Precaution - They Knew No More Of The Matter Than He.
Philosophy
Order
Matter
Limb, N. The Branch Of A Tree Or The Leg Of An American Woman.
Women
Tree
Legs
Take, V.t. To Acquire, Frequently By Force But Preferably By Stealth.
Force
Stealth
Acquire
The Wife, Or Bitter Half.
Wife
Half
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Rich, Adj. Holding In Trust And Subject To An Accounting The Property Of The Indolent, The Incompetent, The Unthrifty, The Envious And The Luckless.
Trust
Envy
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Decalogue, N. A Series Of Commandments, Ten In Number - Just Enough To Permit An Intelligent Selection For Observance, But Not Enough To Embarrass The Choice.
Intelligent
Numbers
Justice
Gnostics, N. A Sect Of Philosophers Who Tried To Engineer A Fusion Between The Early Christians And The Platonists. The Former Would Not Go Into The Caucus And The Combination Failed, Greatly To The Chagrin Of The Fusion Managers.
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Fusion
Coward: One Who, In A Perilous Emergency, Thinks With His Legs.
Sarcastic
Courage
Peace
Prescription: A Physician's Guess At What Will Best Prolong The Situation With Least Harm To The Patient.
Physicians
Literature
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Primate, N. The Head Of A Church, Especially A State Church Supported By Involuntary Contributions. The Primate Of England Is The Archbishop Of Canterbury, An Amiable Old Gentleman, Who Occupies Lambeth Palace When Living And Westminster Abbey When Dead. He Is Commonly Dead.
Gentleman
Church
Palaces
Noise: A Stench In The Ear.
Silence
Ears
Noise
Phonograph, N. An Irritating Toy That Restores Life To Dead Noises.
Life
Noise
Toys
Positivism- A Philosophy That Denies Our Knowledge Of The Real And Affirms Our Ignorance Of The Apparent. Its Longest Exponent Is Comte, Its Broadest Mill And Its Thickest Spencer.
Philosophy
Real
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Behavior, N. Conduct, As Determined, Not By Principle, But By Breeding.
Principles
Determined
Behavior
The Quality That Distinguishes Love Without Knowledge.
Love
Knowledge
Quality
Road, N. A Strip Of Land Along Which One May Pass From Where It Is Too Tiresome To Be To Where It Is Futile To Go.
Travel
Journey
Land
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.
Sarcastic
Tools
Dupes
Adherent, N. A Follower Who Has Not Yet Obtained All That He Expects To Get.
Leadership
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Uxoriousness, N. A Perverted Affection That Has Strayed To One's Own Wife.
Wife
Affection
Old, Adj. In That Stage Of Usefulness Which Is Not Inconsistent With General Inefficiency, As An "old Man". Discredited By Lapse Of Time And Offensive To The Popular Taste, As An "old" Book.
Time
Book
Men
A Bad Workman Quarrels With The Man Who Calls Him That.
Men
He Man
Incompetence
Centaur, N. One Of A Race Of Persons Who Lived Before The Division Of Labor Had Been Carried To Such A Pitch Of Differentiation, And Who Followed The Primitive Economic Maxim, "every Man His Own Horse."
Life
Horse
Men
Pessimism- Philosophy Forced Upon The Convictions Of The Observer By The Disheartening Prevalence Of The Optimist With His Scarecrow Hope And His Unsightly Smile.
Hope
Philosophy
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HomŒopathist, N. The Humorist Of The Medical Profession.
Science
Medical Profession
Humour
A Comely Female Inhabiting The Mohammedan Paradise To Make Things Cheery For The Good Mussulman, Whose Belief In Her Existence Marks A Noble Discontent With His Earthly Spouse, Whom He Denies A Soul.
Soul
Atheism
Female
At War With Savages And Idiots. To Be A Frenchman Abroad Is To Be Miserable; To Be An American Abroad Is To Make Others Miserable.
War
Savages
Idiot
Pandemonium, N. Literally, The Place Of All The Demons. Most Of Them Have Escaped Into Politics And Finance, And The Place Is Now Used As A Lecture Hall By The Audible Reformer.
Politics
Lectures
Finance
Admiral. That Part Of A Warship Which Does The Talking While The Figurehead Does The Thinking.
War
Army
Thinking
Recreation, N. A Particular Kind Of Dejection To Relieve A General Fatigue.
Kindness
Recreation
Fatigue
Bacchus, N.: A Convenient Deity Invented By The Ancients As An Excuse For Getting Drunk.
Food
Wine
Drunk
Example Is Better Than Following It.
Example
Following
Miss, N. A Title With Which We Brand Unmarried Women To Indicate They Are In The Market. Miss, Misses (mrs.) And Mister (mr.) Are The Three Most Distinctly Disagreeable Words In The Language, In Sound And Sense. Two Are Corruptions Of Mistress, The Other Of Master. In The General Abolition Of Social Titles In This Our Country They Miraculously Escaped To Plague Us. If We Must Have Them Let Us Be Consistent And Give One To The Unmarried Man. I Venture To Suggest Mush, Abbreviated To Mh.
Country
Men
Two
Monarchical Government, N. Government.
Government
A Popular Author Is One Who Writes What The People Think. Genius Invites Them To Think Something Else.
Writing
Thinking
People
Cabbage: A Familiar Kitchen-garden Vegetable About As Large And Wise As A Man's Head.
Wise
Food
Men
Self-restraint Is Indulgence Of The Propensity To Forgo.
Self
Restraint
Indulgence
Pigmy, N. One Of A Tribe Of Very Small Men Found By Ancient Travelers In Many Parts Of The World, But By Modern In Central Africa Only. The Pigmies Are So Called To Distinguish Them From The Bulkier Caucasians - Who Are Hogmies.
Men
World
Tribes
Architect. One Who Drafts A Plan Of Your House, And Plans A Draft Of Your Money.
Funny
Money
Badass
Hatred, N. A Sentiment Appropriate To The Occasion Of Another's Superiority.
Hatred
Sentiments
Occasions
Referendum, N. A Law For Submission Of Proposed Legislation To A Popular Vote To Learn The Nonsensus Of Public Opinion.
Learning
Popular Vote
Law
Mythology, N. The Body Of A Primitive People's Beliefs Concerning Its Origin, Early History, Heroes, Deities And So Forth, As Distinguished From The True Accounts Which It Invents Later.
Hero
People
Body
Zeus /n./ The Chief Of Grecian Gods, Adored By The Romans As Jupiter And By The Modern Americans As God, Gold, Mob And Dog.
Dog
Gold
Jupiter
The Money-getter Who Pleads His Love Of Work Has A Lame Defense, For Love Of Work At Money-getting Is A Lower Taste Than Love Of Money.
Defense
Lame
His Love
Platitude, N. The Fundamental Element And Special Glory Of Popular Literature. A Thought That Snores In Words That Smoke. All That Is Mortal Of A Departed Truth. A Jelly-fish Withering On The Shore Of The Sea Of Thought. A Desiccated Epigram.
Truth
Sea
Departed
Miss, N. A Title Which We Brand Unmarried Women To Indicate That They Are In The Market.
Women
Missing
Titles
Magic: (n) The Art Of Converting Superstition Into Coin.
Art
Magic
Coins
Academe, N.: An Ancient School Where Morality And Philosophy Were Taught. Academy, N.: A Modern School Where Football Is Taught.
Inspirational
Graduation
Sports
Congratulations Is The Civility Of Envy.
Success
Congratulations
Envy
Injustice, N. A Burden Which Of All Those That We Load Upon Others And Carry Ourselves Is Lightest In The Hands And Heaviest Upon The Back.
Hands
Injustice
Burden
Tzetze (or Tsetse) Fly, N. An African Insect ("glossina Morsitans") Whose Bite Is Commonly Regarded As Nature's Most Efficacious Remedy For Insomnia, Though Some Patients Prefer That Of The American Novelist ("mendax Interminabilis").
Nature
Insomnia
Novelists
Distance, N. The Only Thing That The Rich Are Willing For The Poor To Call Theirs And Keep.
Distance
Rich
Poor
Christian - One Who Follows The Teachings Of Christ Insofar As They Are Not Inconsistent With A Life Of Sin.
Life
God
Christian
Cerberus, N. The Watch-dog Of Hades, Whose Duty It Was To Guard The Entrance - Against Whom Or What Does Not Clearly Appear; Everybody, Sooner Or Later, Had To Go There, And Nobody Wanted To Carry Off The Entrance.
Dog
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Watches
Genealogy, N. An Account Of One's Descent From A Man Who Did Not Particularly Care To Trace His Own.
Family
Men
Care
Adore, V.t. To Venerate Expectantly.
Adore
Mind, N. A Mysterious Form Of Matter Secreted By The Brain. Its Chief Activity Consists In The Endeavour To Ascertain Its Own Nature, The Futility Of The Attempt Being Due To The Fact That It Has Nothing But Itself To Know Itself With.
Nature
Science
Brain
Close-fisted, Adj. Unduly Desirous Of Keeping That Which Many Meritorious Persons Wish To Obtain.
Wish
Persons
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.
Christian
Character
Widows
Lottery: A Tax On People Who Are Bad At Math.
Inspirational
Money
Math
The Creator And Arbiter Of Beauty Is The Heart; To The Male Rattlesnake The Female Rattlesnake Is The Loveliest Thing In Nature.
Beauty
Heart
Males
Replica, N. A Reproduction Of A Work Of Art, By The Artist That Made The Original. It Is So Called To Distinguish It From A "copy," Which Is Made By Another Artist. When The Two Are Mae With Equal Skill The Replica Is The More Valuable, For It Is Suppose
Art
Work
Skills
What This Country Needs What Every Country Needs Occasionally Is A Good Hard Bloody War To Revive The Vice Of Patriotism On Which Its Existence As A Nation Depends.
Country
War
Patriotism
Immoral, Adj. Inexpedient. Whatever In The Long Run And With Regard To The Greater Number Of Instances Men Find To Be Generally Inexpedient Comes To Be Considered Wrong, Wicked, Immoral.
Running
Men
Numbers
Opera, N. A Play Representing Life In Another World, Whose Inhabitants Have No Speech But Song, No Motions But Gestures And No Postures But Attitudes.
Life
Song
Attitude
An Aged Burgundy Runs With A Beardless Port. I Cherish The Fancy That Port Speaks Sentences Of Wisdom, Burgundy Sings The Inspired Ode.
Running
Wine
Alcohol
Beggar, N. One Who Has Relied On The Assistance Of His Friends.
Friendship
Beggar
Assistance
Here's To Woman! Would That We Could Fold Into Her Arms Without Falling Into Her Hands.
Love
Women
Fall
Reality, N. The Dream Of A Mad Philosopher. That Which Would Remain In The Cupel If One Should Assay A Phantom. The Nucleus Of A Vacuum.
Dream
Philosophy
Reality
Police, N. An Armed Force For Protection And Participation.
Police
Protection
Force
Eccentricity, N. A Method Of Distinction So Cheap That Fools Employ It To Accentuate Their Incapacity.
Fool
Incapacity
Distinction
A King's Staff Of Office, The Sign And Symbol Of His Authority. It Was Originally A Mace With Which The Sovereign Admonished His Jester And Vetoed Ministerial Measures By Breaking The Bones Of Their Proponents.
Kings
Office
Sovereign
Labor Is One Of The Processes By Which A Acquires Property For B.
Process
Labor
Property
Ugliness, N. A Gift Of The Gods To Certain Women, Entailing Virtue Without Humility.
Humility
Virtue
Certain
Exception, N. A Thing Which Takes The Liberty To Differ From Other Things Of Its Class, As An Honest Man, A Truthful Woman, Etc.
Truth
Honesty
Women
Future. That Period Of Time In Which Our Affairs Prosper, Our Friends Are True And Our Happiness Is Assured.
Friendship
Happiness
Future
Liver, N. A Large Red Organ Thoughtfully Provided By Nature To Be Bilious With. The Sentiments And Emotions Which Every Literary Anatomist Now Knows To Haunt The Heart Were Anciently Believed To Infest The Liver; And Even Gascoygne, Speaking Of The Emotional Side Of Human Nature, Calls It "our Hepaticall Parte." It Was At One Time Considered The Seat Of Life; Hence Its Name- Liver, The Thing We Live With.
Heart
Science
Emotional
Deliberation, N.: The Act Of Examining One's Bread To Determine Which Side It Is Buttered On.
Food
Cooking
Bread
Ink, N. A Villainous Compound Of Tannogallate Of Iron, Gum-arabic, And Water, Chiefly Used To Facilitate The Infection Of Idiocy And Promote Intellectual Crime.
Iron
Water
Intellectual
Habit: A Shackle For The Free.
Nihilism
Habit
Shackles
Perseverance - A Lowly Virtue Whereby Mediocrity Achieves An Inglorious Success.
Success
Perseverance
Congratulations
Twice – Once Too Often.
The Hardest Tumble A Man Can Make Is To Fall Over His Own Bluff.
Wisdom
Clever
Lying
Optimism - The Doctrine Or Belief That Everything Is Beautiful, Including What Is Ugly.
Beauty
Beautiful
Attitude
Finance, N. The Art Or Science Of Managing Revenues And Resources For The Best Advantage Of The Manager. The Pronunciation Of This Word With The I Long And The Accent On The First Syllable Is One Of America's Most Precious Discoveries And Possessions.
Art
Discovery
America
Homo Creator's Testimony To The Sound Construction And Fine Finish Of Deus Creatus. A Popular Form Of Abjection, Having An Element Of Pride.
Pride
Sound
Abjection
Magnetism, N. Something Acting Upon A Magnet. The Two Definitions Immediately Foregoing Are Condensed From The Works Of One Thousand Eminent Scientists, Who Have Illuminated The Subject With A Great White Light, To The Inexpressible Advancement Of Human Knowledge.
Science
Light
Two
Retribution, N. A Rain Of Fire-and-brimstone That Falls Alike Upon The Just And Such Of The Unjust As Have Not Procured Shelter By Evicting Them.
Rain
Fall
Fire
The Best Kind Of Onion Soup Is The Simplest Kind.
Onions
Soup
Kind
Cynic, N: A Blackguard Whose Faulty Vision Sees Things As They Are, Not As They Ought To Be.
Vision
Cynicism
Cynic
Incompatibility. In Matrimony A Similarity Of Tastes, Particularly The Taste For Domination.
Marriage
Taste
Incompatibility
Radicalism, N. The Conservatism Of To-morrow Injected Into The Affairs Of To-day.
Radicalism
Affair
Morrow
Technicality, N. In An English Court A Man Named Home Was Tried For Slander In Having Accused His Neighbor Of Murder. His Exact Words Were: "sir Thomas Holt Hath Taken A Cleaver And Stricken His Cook Upon The Head, So That One Side Of The Head Fell Upon One Shoulder And The Other Side Upon The Other Shoulder." The Defendant Was Acquitted By Instruction Of The Court, The Learned Judges Holding That The Words Did Not Charge Murder, For They Did Not Affirm The Death Of The Cook, That Being Only An Inference.
Taken
Home
Men
Malthusian, Adj. Pertaining To Malthus And His Doctrines, Who Believed In Artificially Limiting Population, But Found That It Could Not Be Done By Talking. Herod Of Judea, All The Famous Soldiers Have Been Practical Exponents Of The Malthusian Idea.
Talking
Ideas
Soldier
Woman, N. An Animal Usually Living In The Vicinity Of Man, And Having A Rudimentary Susceptibility To Domestication.
Life
Women
Animal
Majesty, N. The State And Title Of A King. Regarded With A Just Contempt By The Most Eminent Grand Masters, Grand Chancellors, Great Incohonees And Imperial Potentates Of The Ancient And Honorable Orders Of Republican America.
Kings
Order
America
Ocean: A Body Of Water Occupying About Two-thirds Of A World Made For Man - Who Has No Gills.
Sarcastic
Beach
Nature
Peroration, N. The Explosion Of An Oratorical Rocket. It Dazzles, But To An Observer Having The Wrong Kind Of Nose Its Most Conspicuous Peculiarity Is The Smell Of The Several Kinds Of Powder Used In Preparing It.
Kindness
Smell
Noses
I Think Love Is The Most Unbelievable, And Critical, Thing In Civilization. Everything Else Is Very Mechanical And Predictable, But Love, You Can't Catch It.
Love You
Love Is
Thinking
Inexpedient: Not Calculated To Advance One's Interests.
Nihilism
Interest
Fib, N. A Lie That Has Not Cut Its Teeth. An Habitual Liar's Nearest Approach To Truth: The Perigee Of His Eccentric Orbit.
Liars
Lying
Cutting
Alien - An American Sovereign In His Probationary State.
Immigration
Sovereign
Aliens
Peace In International Affairs: A Period Of Cheating Between Periods Of Fighting
Cheating
Peace
Fighting
To Dogmatism The Spirit Of Inquiry Is The Same As The Spirit Of Evil.
Evil
Inquiry
Spirit
Rimer, N. A Poet Regarded With Indifference Or Disesteem.
Differences
Indifference
Poet
Gravitation, N. The Tendency Of All Bodies To Approach One Another With A Strength Proportioned To The Quantity Of Matter They Contain-the Quantity Of Matter They Contain Being Ascertained By The Strength Of Their Tendency To Approach One Another. This Is A Lovely And Edifying Illustration Of How Science, Having Made A The Proof Of B, Makes B The Proof Of A.
Science
Illustration
Lovely
Quotation, N: The Act Of Repeating Erroneously The Words Of Another.
Quotations
Nominate, V. To Designate For The Heaviest Political Assessment. To Put Forward A Suitable Person To Incur The Mudgobbling And Deadcatting Of The Opposition.
Assessment
Political
Politics
Whangdepootenawah, N. In The Ojibwa Tongue, Disaster; An Unexpected Affliction That Strikes Hard.
Affliction
Tongue
Unexpected
Monsignor- A High Ecclesiastical Title, Of Which The Founder Of Our Religion Overlooked The Advantages.
Religion
Titles
Advantage
Clock, N. A Machine Of Great Moral Value To Man, Allaying His Concern For The Future By Reminding Him What A Lot Of Time Remains To Him.
Time
Future
Men
Definition: Connoisseur, N. A Specialist Who Knows Everything About Something And Nothing About Anything Else.
Wine
Definitions
Connoisseur
Existence, N. A Transient, Horrible, Fantastic Dream,/ Wherein Is Nothing Yet All Things Do Seem:/ From Which We're Wakened By A Friendly Nudge/ Of Our Bedfellow Death, And Cry: "o Fudge!"
Dream
Nudge Nudge
Friendly
Rostrum, N. In Latin, The Beak Of A Bird Or The Prow Of A Ship. In America, A Place From Which A Candidate For Office Energetically Expounds The Wisdom, Virtue And Power Of The Rabble.
Wisdom
Latin
America
It Is Evident That Skepticism, While It Makes No Actual Change In Man, Always Makes Him Feel Better.
Change
Feel Better
Men
Kiss, N. A Word Invented By The Poets As A Rhyme For "bliss." It Is Supposed To Signify, In A General Way, Some Kind Of Rite Or Ceremony Appertaining To A Good Understanding; But The Manner Of Its Performance Is Unknown To This Lexicographer.
Kissing
Understanding
Lexicographer
Platitude: All That Is Mortal Of A Departed Truth.
Departed
Platitudes
Mortals
Intention, N. The Mind's Sense Of The Prevalence Of One Set Of Influences Over Another Set; An Effect Whose Cause Is The Imminence, Immediate Or Remote, Of The Performance Of An Involuntary Act.
Mind
Causes
Influence
Riot – A Popular Entertainment Given To The Military By Innocent Bystanders.
Peace
War
Military
Material, Adj. Having An Actual Existence, As Distinguished From An Imaginary One. Important.
Important
Existence
Distinguished
While You Have A Future Do Not Live Too Much In Contemplation Of Your Past: Unless You Are Content To Walk Backward The Mirror Is A Poor Guide.
Past
Mirrors
Too Much
Uncommon Extension Of The Fear Of Death.
Aging
Fear Of Death
Uncommon
Meekness: Uncommon Patience In Planning A Revenge That Is Worth While.
Patience
Revenge
Planning
Calamities Are Of Two Kinds: Misfortunes To Ourselves, And Good Fortune To Others.
Funny
Jealousy
Sarcastic
A Book Which The Mohammedans Foolishly Believe To Have Been Written By Divine Inspiration, But Which Christians Know To Be A Wicked Imposture, Contradictory To The Holy Scriptures.
Christian
Believe
Book
Tedium, N. Ennui, The State Or Condition Of One That Is Bored. Many Fanciful Derivations Of The Word Have Been Affirmed, But So High An Authority As Father Jape Says That It Comes From A Very Obvious Source --the First Words Of The Ancient Latin Hymn _te Deum Laudamus_. In This Apparently Natural Derivation There Is Something That Saddens.
Father
Latin
Hymns
Acknowledge, V.t. To Confess. Acknowledgment Of One Another's Faults Is The Highest Duty Imposed By Our Love Of Truth.
Love
Truth
Faults
Vote: The Instrument And Symbol Of A Freeman's Power To Make A Fool Of Himself And A Wreck Of His Country.
Country
Stupid
Power
Least Said Is Soon Disavowed.
Clarity
Said
Communicate
Owe, V. To Have (and To Hold) A Debt. The Word Formerly Signified Not Indebtedness, But Possession; It Meant "own," And In The Minds Of Debtors There Is Still A Good Deal Of Confusion Between Assets And Liabilities.
Confusion
Confusing
Mind
Mausoleum, N: The Final And Funniest Folly Of The Rich.
Dying
Finals
Rich
Past, N. That Part Of Eternity With Some Small Fraction Of Which We Have A Slight And Regrettable Acquaintance. A Moving Line Called The Present Parts It From An Imaginary Period Known As The Future. These Two Grand Divisions Of Eternity, Of Which The One Is Continually Effacing The Other, Are Entirely Unlike. The One Is Dark With Sorrow And Disappointment, The Other Bright With Prosperity And Joy.... Yet The Past Is The Future Of Yesterday, The Future Is The Past Of To-morrow. They Are One-the Knowledge And The Dream.
Dream
Disappointment
Moving
The Gambling Known As Business Looks With Austere Disfavor Upon The Business Known As Gambling.
Sarcastic
Money
Business
Pity, N. A Failing Sense Of Exemption, Inspired By Contrast.
Failure
Inspired
Failing
Damning, With Bell, Book And Candle / Some Sinner Whose Opinions Are A Scandal. / A Rite Permitting Satan To Enslave Him / Forever, And Forbidding Christ To Save Him.
Book
Forever
Atheism
There Are Two Instruments Worse Than A Clarinet - Two Clarinets.
Two
Instruments
Clarinet
He Who Thinks With Difficulty Believes With Alacrity. A Fool Is A Natural Proselyte, But He Must Be Caught Young, For His Convictions, Unlike Those Of The Wise, Harden With Age.
Wise
Believe
Thinking
Politician, N. An Eel In The Fundamental Mud Upon Which The Superstructure Of Organized Society Is Reared. When He Wriggles, He Mistakes The Agitation Of His Tail For The Trembling Of The Edifice.
Mistake
Eels
Agitation
The Liberality Of One Who Has Much, In Permitting One Who Has Nothing To Get All That He Can.
Liberality
Extinction, N. The Raw Material Out Of Which Theology Created The Future State.
Sarcastic
Future
Raw Materials
Ubiquity, N. The Gift Or Power Of Being In All Places At One Time, But Not In All Places At All Times, Which Is Omnipresence, An Attribute Of God And The Luminiferous Ether Only.
Time
Power
Ubiquity
Disabuse, V.t. To Present Your Neighbor With Another And Better Error Than The One Which He Has Deemed Advantageous To Embrace.
Errors
Neighbor
Embrace
Caviler, N. A Critic Of Our Own Work.
Work
Critics
Congress, N. A Body Of Men Who Meet To Repeal Laws.
Men
Law
Body
Beg, V. To Ask For Something With An Earnestness Proportioned To The Belief That It Will Not Be Given.
Belief
Given
Asks
Sorcery, N. The Ancient Prototype And Forerunner Of Political Influence. It Was, However, Deemed Less Respectable And Sometimes Was Punished By Torture And Death.
Death
Punishment
Political
The Fact That Boys Are Allowed To Exist At All Is Evidence Of A Remarkable Christian Forebearance Among Men.
Christian
Children
Humorous
Impostor N. A Rival Aspirant To Public Honors.
Honor
Rivals
A Single Swallow, It Is Said, Devours Ten Millions Of Insects Every Year. The Supplying Of These Insects I Take To Be A Signal Instance Of The Creator's Bounty In Providing For The Lives Of His Creatures.
God
Years
Signals
Table D'hote, N. A Caterer's Thrifty Concession To The Universal Passion For Irresponsibility.
Food
Passion
Cooking
Before Undergoing A Surgical Operation, Arrange Your Temporal Affairs. You May Live.
Humorous
Doctors
Medicine
Decide, V.i. To Succumb To The Preponderance Of One Set Of Influences Over Another Set.
Influence
King, N. A Male Person Commonly Known In America As A "crowned Head," Although He Never Wears A Crown And Has Usually No Head To Speak Of.
Kings
America
Males
The Poor Man's Price Of Admittance To The Favor Of The Rich Is His Self-respect.
Men
Self
Favors
That Part Of Your Friend Which It Is Your Privilege To Contemplate In Your Adversity
Friendship
Adversity
Privilege
Idleness, N. A Model Farm Where The Devil Experiments With Seeds Of New Sins And Promotes The Growth Of Staple Vices.
Growth
Devil
Vices
Frying-pan, N. One Part Of The Penal Apparatus Employed In That Punitive Institution, A Woman's Kitchen. The Frying-pan Was Invented By Calvin, And By Him Used In Cooking Span-long Infants That Had Died Without Baptism; And Observing One Day The Horrible Torment Of A Tramp Who Had Incautiously Pulled A Fried Babe From The Waste-dump And Devoured It, It Occurred To The Great Divine To Rob Death Of Its Terrors By Introducing The Frying-pan Into Every Household In Geneva. Thence It Spread To All Corners Of The World, And Has Been Of Invaluable Assistance In The Propagation Of His Sombre Faith.
Long
Baptism
Cooking
Crayfish, N. A Small Crustacean Very Much Resembling The Lobster, But Less Indigestible.
Food
Cooking
Lobster
Generous, Adj. Originally This Word Meant Noble By Birth And Was Rightly Applied To A Great Multitude Of Persons. It Now Means Noble By Nature And Is Taking A Bit Of A Rest.
Mean
Generosity
Noble
Envy, N. Emulation Adapted To The Meanest Capacity.
Envy
Emulation
Capacity
Salamander: Originally A Reptile Inhabiting Fire; Later, An Anthropomorphous Immortal, But Still A Pyrophile. Salamanders Are Now Believed To Be Extinct, The Last One Of Which We Have An Account Having Been Seen In Carcassonne By The Abbe Belloc, Who Exorcised It With A Bucket Of Holy Water.
Fire
Water
Buckets
Philosophy: A Route Of Many Roads Leading From Nowhere To Nothing.
Leadership
Philosophy
Math
Reconciliation, N. A Suspension Of Hostilities. An Armed Truce For The Purpose Of Digging Up The Dead.
Digging
Purpose
Truce
Debt, N. An Ingenious Substitute For The Chain And Whip Of The Slave-driver. As, Pent In An Aquarium, The Troutlet Swims Round And Round His Tank To Find An Outlet, Pressing His Nose Against The Glass That Holds Him, Nor Ever Sees The Prison That Enfolds Him; So The Poor Debtor, Seeing Naught Around Him, Yet Feels The Narrow Limits That Impound Him, Grieves At His Debt And Studies To Evade It, And Finds At Last He Might As Well Have Paid It.
Grieving
Glasses
Aquariums
Reason, V.i. To Weight Probabilities In The Scales Of Desire.
Desire
Weight
Reason
Representative, N. In National Politics, A Member Of The Lower House In This World, And Without Discernible Hope Of Promotion In The Next.
House
Next
World
Houseless: Having Paid All Taxes On Household Goods.
Taxes
Goods
Household
Truce, N. Friendship.
Friendship
Truce
Homiletics, N. The Science Of Adapting Sermons To The Spiritual Needs, Capacities And Conditions Of The Congregation.
Spiritual
Science
Needs
Force, N. "force Is But Might," The Teacher Said P/ "that Definition's Just."/ The Boy Said Naught But Throught Instead,/ Remembering His Pounded Head:/ "force Is Not Might But Must!"
Teacher
Boys
Justice
Cynicism Is That Blackguard Defect Of Vision Which Compels Us To See The World As It Is, Instead Of As It Should Be.
Vision
World
Cynicism
Carnivorous, Adj. Addicted To The Cruelty Of Devouring The Timorous Vegetarian, His Heirs And Assigns.
Sarcastic
Science
Heirs
Admiration, N. Our Polite Recognition Of Another's Resemblance To Ourselves.
Love
Appreciation
Rewards And Recognition
Rope, N. An Obsolescent Appliance For Reminding Assassins That They Too Are Mortal. It Is Put About The Neck And Remains In Place One's Whole Life Long.
Life
Long
Rope
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