Ambrose Bierce

Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead. ”

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. ”

Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. ”

Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues. ”

Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure. ”

Perseverance - a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success. ”

A man is known by the company he organizes. ”

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling. ”

Wit - the salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out. ”

Edible - good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ”