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Asperse, V.t. Maliciously To Ascribe To Another Vicious Actions Which One Has Not Had The Temptation And Opportunity To Commit.
-Ambrose Bierce
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Asperse, V.t. Maliciously To

Ambrose Bierce
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Asperse, V.t. Maliciously To Ascribe To Another Vicious Actions Which One Has Not Had The Temptation And Opportunity To Commit.

Understanding the Quote: "asperse, v.t. maliciously to ascribe to another vicious actions which one has..."

This quote by Ambrose Bierce reflects deeply on the theme of opportunity. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Opportunity, Temptation, Action, 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 opportunity and temptation. 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.

Views: 27177
Topic
Opportunity
Temptation
Action
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We Must Stop Chasing Dollars, Stop Lying, Stop Cheating, Stop Ignoring Art, Literature, And All The Refining Agencies And Instrumentalities Of Civilization.
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Accuse, V.t. To Affirm Another's Guilt Or Unworth; Most Commonly As A Justification Of Ourselves For Having Wronged Him.
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An Appellate Court Which Reverses The Judgment Of A Popular Author's Contemporaries, The Appellant Being His Obscure Competitor.
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Reflection,n: An Action Of The Mind Whereby We Obtain A Clearer View Of Our Relation To The Things Of Yesterday And Are Able To Avoid The Perils That We Shall Not Again Encounter
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Expostulation, N. One Of The Many Methods By Which Fools Prefer To Lose Their Friends.
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Rebel, N. A Proponent Of A New Misrule Who Has Failed To Establish It.
Failure
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Calumnus, N. A Graduate Of The School For Scandal.
Graduation
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Property, N. Any Material Thing, Having No Particular Value, That May Be Held By A Against The Cupidity Of B. Whatever Gratifies The Passion For Possession In One And Disappoints It In All Others. The Object Of Man's Brief Rapacity And Long Indifference.
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Monsieur Franqulin, Inventor Of Electricity. This Illustrious Savant, After Having Made Several Voyages Around The World, Died On The Sandwich Islands And Was Devoured By Savages, Of Whom Not A Single Fragment Was Ever Recovered.
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Forgetfulness - A Gift Of God Bestowed Upon Debtors In Compensation For Their Destitution Of Conscience.
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Miss, N. A Title Which We Brand Unmarried Women To Indicate That They Are In The Market.
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Die: To Stop Sinning Suddenly.
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Sinning
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Crowned With Leaves Of The Laurel. In England The Poet Laureate Is An Officer Of The Sovereign's Court, Acting As Dancing Skeleton At Every Royal Feast And Singing-mute At Every Royal Funeral.
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Sacrifice
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Enough
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Sleep
Insomnia
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Doe
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Poetry
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Newspapers
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Distinction
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Hats
Clean
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Heaven
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Wedding
Two
Ceremony
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Trust
Envy
Rich
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Tears
Legacy
When You Are Ill Make Haste To Forgive Your Enemies, For You May Recover.
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Enemy
Haste
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Time
Lying
Childhood
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Struggle
Wicked
Oblivion
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Imperfection
Wicked
What Is A Democrat? One Who Believes That The Republicans Have Ruined The Country. What Is A Republican? One Who Believes That The Democrats Would Ruin The Country.
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Country
Humorous
When Among The Graves Of Thy Fellows, Walk With Circumspection; Thine Own Is Open At Thy Feet.
Death
Feet
Graves
Bride: A Woman With A Fine Prospect Of Happiness Behind Her.
Happiness
Marriage
Wedding
Hand, N. A Singular Instrument Worn At The End Of The Human Arm And Commonly Thrust Into Somebody's Pocket.
Hands
Pockets
Arms
Resolute, Adj. Obstinate In A Course That We Approve.
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Obstinate
Courses
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Giving
Advice
Suggestions
Immortality: A Toy Which People Cry For, And On Their Knees Apply For, Dispute, Contend And Lie For, And If Allowed Would Be Right Proud Eternally To Die For.
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Sadness
People
Creditor. One Of A Tribe Of Savages Dwelling Beyond The Financial Straits And Dreaded For Their Desolating Incursions.
Fear
Dwelling
Savages
Pain, N. An Uncomfortable Frame Of Mind That May Have A Physical Basis In Something That Is Being Done To The Body, Or May Be Purely Mental, Caused By The Good Fortune Of Another.
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Mind
Done
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Quality
Characteristics
Compulsion, N. The Eloquence Of Power.
Power
Compulsion
Eloquence
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Optimistic
White
Optimism
Famous, Adj.: Conspicuously Miserable.
Miserable
Fame
There Was Never A Genius Who Was Not Thought A Fool Until He Disclosed Himself; Whereas He Is A Fool Then Only.
Genius
Fool
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Science
Giving
Fool
I Keep A Conscience Uncorrupted By Religion, A Judgment Undimmed By Politics And Patriotism, A Heart Untainted By Friendships And Sentiments Unsoured By Animosities.
Fear
Heart
Atheism
Blank-verse, N. Unrhymed Iambic Pentameters - The Most Difficult Kind Of English Verse To Write Acceptably; A Kind, Therefore, Much Affected By Those Who Cannot Acceptably Write Any Kind.
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Writing
Blank
Uncommon Extension Of The Fear Of Death.
Aging
Fear Of Death
Uncommon
Sweater, N.: Garment Worn By Child When Its Mother Is Feeling Chilly.
Family
Mothers Day
Mom
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
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
Noumenon, N. That Which Exists, As Distinguished From That Which Merely Seems To Exist, The Latter Being A Phenomenon. The Noumenon Is A Bit Difficult To Locate; It Can Be Apprehended Only By A Process Of Reasoning - Which Is A Phenomenon.
Process
Latter
Existence
Outcome, N. A Particular Type Of Disappointment . . . . Judged By The Outcome, The Result. This Is Immortal Nonsense; The Wisdom Of An Act Is To Be Juded By The Light That The Doer Had When He Performed It.
Wisdom
Disappointment
Light
To Be Comic Is Merely To Be Playful, But Wit Is A Serious Matter. To Laugh At It Is To Confess That You Do Not Understand.
Laughing
Matter
Serious
Recollect, V. To Recall With Additions Something Not Previously Known.
Recalls
Known
Indiscretion, N. The Guilt Of Woman.
Guilt
Witch, N. (1) Any Ugly And Repulsive Old Woman, In A Wicked League With The Devil. (2) A Beautiful And Attractive Young Woman, In Wickedness A League Beyond The Devil.
Beautiful
Women
League
An Egotist Is A Person Of Low Taste - More Interested In Himself Than In Me.
Humorous
Profound
Ego
Debt, N. An Ingenious Substitute For The Chain And Whip Of The Slavedriver.
Ties
Debtors
Owing A Debt
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
Doe
Watches
Backbite: To ''speak Of A Man As You Find Him'' When He Can't Find You.
Men
Speak
Slander
Realism, N. The Art Of Depicting Nature As It Is Seem By Toads. The Charm Suffusing A Landscape Painted By A Mole, Or A Story Written By A Measuring-worm.
Art
Nature
Moles
Litigation: A Machine Which You Go Into As A Pig And Come Out Of As A Sausage.
Pigs
Law
Machines
Here's To Woman! Would That We Could Fold Into Her Arms Without Falling Into Her Hands.
Love
Women
Fall
Hatred, N. A Sentiment Appropriate To The Occasion Of Another's Superiority.
Hatred
Sentiments
Occasions
Adolescence: The Stage Between Puberty And Adultery.
Cynical
Adultery
Cynicism
Poverty, N. A File Provided For The Teeth Of The Rats Of Reform. Its Victims Are Distinguished By Possession Of All The Virtues And By Their Faith In Leaders Seeking To Conduct Them Into A Prosperity Where They Believe These To Be Unknown.
Believe
Leader
Teeth
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
Mercy, N. An Attribute Beloved Of Detected Offenders.
Love
Mercy
Attributes
Usage, N. The First Person Of The Literary Trinity, The Second And Third Being Custom And Conventionality. Imbued With A Decent Reverence For This Holy Triad An Industrious Writer May Hope To Produce Books That Will Live As Long As The Fashion.
Hope
Fashion
Book
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
Vanity, N. The Tribute Of A Fool To The Worth Of The Nearest Ass.
Vanity
Fool
Ass
Carnivorous, Adj. Addicted To The Cruelty Of Devouring The Timorous Vegetarian, His Heirs And Assigns.
Sarcastic
Science
Heirs
Pitiful, Adj. The State Of An Enemy Or Opponent After An Imaginary Encounter With Oneself.
Enemy
Encounters
Opponents
Preference, N. A Sentiment, Or Frame Of Mind, Induced By The Erroneous Belief That One Thing Is Better Than Another.
Time
Mind
Belief
Syllogism, N. A Logical Formula Consisting Of A Major And A Minor Assumption And An Inconsequent.
Science
Logic
Assumption
Universalist, N. One Who Forgoes The Advantage Of A Hell For Persons Of Another Faith.
Faith
Hell
Advantage
Tail, N. The Part Of An Animal's Spine That Has Transcended Its Natural Limitations To Set Up An Independent Existence In A World Of Its Own.
Independent
Animal
Tails
Orthodox, N. An Ox Wearing The Popular Religious Joke.
Religious
Religion
Orthodox
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
Mayonnaise: One Of The Sauces Which Serve The French In Place Of A State Religion.
Food
Cooking
Religion
Evolutionary Biology Is Genuinely Scientific, But More Than That It Opens The Door To A World More Marvellous Than Any Christian Fundamentalist Has Ever Read Into The Pages Of The Bible.
Christian
Doors
World
The Most Intolerant Advocate Is He Who Is Trying To Convince Himself.
Trying
Convince
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: A Title With Which We Brand Unmarried Women To Indicate That 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.
Missing
Sound
Titles
Pilgrim, N. A Traveler That Is Taken Seriously. A Pilgrim Father Was One Who [was] Not Permitted To Sing Psalms Through His Nose [in Europe], Followed It To Massachusetts, Where He Could Personate God According To The Dictates Of His Conscience.
Father
Taken
Europe
Diplomacy, N.: The Patriotic Art Of Lying For One's Country.
Sarcastic
Country
Art
Strive Not For Singularity In Dress; Fools Have The More And Men Of Sense The Less. To Look Original Is Not Worth While, But Be In Mind A Little Out Of Style.
Men
Mind
Style
Oath, N. In Law, A Solemn Appeal To The Deity, Made Binding Upon The Conscience By A Penalty For Perjury.
Law
Deities
Made
Calamity, N. A More Than Commonly Plain And Unmistakable Reminder That The Affairs Of This Life Are Not Of Our Own Ordering. Calamities Are Of Two Kinds: Misfortune To Ourselves, And Good Fortune To Others.
Life
Two
Kind
Sacred, Adj. Dedicated To Some Religious Purpose; Having A Divine Character; Inspiring Solemn Thoughts Or Emotions; As... The Cow In India; The Crocodile, The Cat And The Onion Of Ancient Egypt.
Religious
Character
Cat
Piano, N. A Parlor Utensil For Subduing The Impenitent Visitor. It Is Operated By Depressing The Keys Of The Machine And The Spirits Of The Audience.
Funny
Music
Keys
Philosophy: A Route Of Many Roads Leading From Nowhere To Nothing.
Leadership
Philosophy
Math
Learning, N. The Kind Of Ignorance Distinguishing The Studious.
Education
Ignorance
Kind
Idiot, N. A Member Of A Large And Powerful Tribe Whose Influence In Human Affairs Has Always Been Dominant And Controlling.
Powerful
Hatred
Tribes
Patriotism. Combustible Rubbish Ready To The Torch Of Any One Ambitious To Illuminate His Name.
Patriotic
Names
Patriotism
Multitude, N. A Crowd; The Source Of Political Wisdom And Virtue. In A Republic, The Object Of The Statesman's Adoration.
Wisdom
Political
Crowds
One Of The Greatest Of Poets, Coleridge Was One Of The Wisest Of Men, And It Was Not For Nothing That He Read Us This Parable. Let Us Have A Little Less Of "hands Across The Sea," And A Little More Of That Elemental Distrust That Is The Security Of Nations. War Loves To Come Like A Thief In The Night; Professions Of Eternal Amity Provide The Night.
War
Night
Men
Respectability, N. The Offspring Of A Liaison Between A Bald Head And A Bank Account.
Bank Accounts
Liaison
Offspring
Vituperation, N. Saite, As Understood By Dunces And All Such As Suffer From An Impediment In Their Wit.
Understanding
Suffering
Dunces
Dependent, Adj. Reliant Upon Another's Generosity For The Support Which You Are Not In A Position To Exact From His Fears.
Fear
Generosity
Support
Conversation: A Fair For The Display Of The Minor Mental Commodities, Each Exhibitor Being Too Intent Upon The Arrangement Of His Own Wares To Observe Those Of His Neighbor.
Inspirational
Commodity
Neighbor
Abscond - To Move In A Mysterious Way, Commonly With The Property Of Another.
Funny
Moving
Humor
Hydra, N. A Kind Of Animal That The Ancients Catalogued Under Many Heads.
Kindness
Animal
Hydra
Impartial - Unable To Perceive Any Promise Of Personal Advantage From Espousing Either Side Of A Controversy.
Promise
Literature
Sides
Hyena, N. A Beast Held In Reverence By Some Oriental Nations From Its Habit Of Frequenting At Night The Burial-places Of The Dead. But The Medical Student Does That
Night
Doe
Hyenas
X, N. In Our Alphabet Being A Needless Letter Has An Added Invincibility To The Attacks Of The Spelling Reformers, And Like Them, Will Doubtless Last As Long As The Language.
Long
Letters
Lasts
Plagiarism, N. A Literary Coincidence Compounded Of A Discreditable Priority And An Honorable Subsequence.
Priorities
Coincidence
Plagiarism
Artlessness, N. A Certain Engaging Quality To Which Women Attain By Long Study And Severe Practice Upon The Admiring Male, Who Is Pleased To Fancy It Resembles The Candid Simplicity Of His Young.
Practice
Long
Simplicity
No Country Is So Wild And Difficult But Men Will Make It A Theater Of War.
Country
War
Men
Happiness: An Agreeable Sensation Arising From Contemplating The Misery Of Another.
Funny
Happiness
Happy
Projectile, N. The Final Arbiter In International Disputes. With The Growth Of Prudence In Military Affairs The Projectile Came More And More Into Favor, And Is Now Held In High Esteem By The Most Courageous.
Courage
Military
Growth
Love, N. A Temporary Insanity Curable By Marriage Or By Removal Of The Patient From The Influences Under Which He Incurred The Disorder.
Love
Temporary Insanity
Patient
You Don't Have To Be Stupid To Be A Christian, ... But It Probably Helps.
Christian
Stupid
Helping
Don't Steal; Thou'lt Never Thus Compete Successfully In Business. Cheat.
Business
Work
Competition
Optimism - The Doctrine Or Belief That Everything Is Beautiful, Including What Is Ugly.
Beauty
Beautiful
Attitude
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