Ambrose Bierce

Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. ”

Revolution, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. ”

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better. ”

War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. ”

Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art. ”

Prejudice - a vagrant opinion without visible means of support. ”

Childhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age. ”

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. ”

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate. ”

Alliance - in international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. ”