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FIB, n. A lie that has not cut...

FIB, n. A lie that has not cut its teeth. An habitual liar's nearest approach to truth: the perigee of his eccentric orbit.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

CEMETERY, n. An isolated subur...

CEMETERY, n. An isolated suburban spot where mourners match lies, poets write at a target and stone-cutters spell for a wager.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

AUSTRALIA, n. A country lying ...

AUSTRALIA, n. A country lying in the South Sea, whose industrial and commercial development has been unspeakably retarded by an unfortunate dispute among geographers as to whether it is a continent or an island.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

MAN, n. An animal so lost in r...

MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

LOSS, n. Privation of that whi...

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'.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

X, n. In our alphabet being a ...

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.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

RIBALDRY, n. Censorious langua...

RIBALDRY, n. Censorious language by another concerning oneself.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

PANTOMIME, n. A play in which ...

PANTOMIME, n. A play in which the story is told without violence to the language. The least disagreeable form of dramatic action.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

MISCREANT, n. A person of the ...

MISCREANT, n. A person of the highest degree of unworth. Etymologically, the word means unbeliever, and its present signification may be regarded as theology's noblest contribution to the development of our language.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

LEXICOGRAPHER, n. A pestilent ...

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.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

Infidel, n. In New York, one w...

Infidel, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

They say that hens do cackle l...

They say that hens do cackle loudest when there is nothing vital in the eggs they have laid.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

Insurrection. An unsuccessful ...

Insurrection. An unsuccessful revolution; disaffection's failure to substitute misrule for bad government.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

PERFECTION, n. An imaginary st...

PERFECTION, n. An imaginary state of quality distinguished from the actual by an element known as excellence; an attribute of the critic.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

Past, n. That part of Eternity...

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.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

PANTALOONS, n. A nether habili...

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.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

REFERENDUM, n. A law for submi...

REFERENDUM, n. A law for submission of proposed legislation to a popular vote to learn the nonsensus of public opinion.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

R.I.P. A careless abbreviation...

R.I.P. A careless abbreviation of 'requiescat in pace', attesting to indolent goodwill to the dead. According to the learned Dr. Drigge, however, the letters originally meant nothing more than 'reductus in pulvis'.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

MONARCH, n. A person engaged i...

MONARCH, n. A person engaged in reigning. Formerly the monarch ruled, as the derivation of the word attests, and as many subjects have had occasion to learn.

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

CUNNING, n. The faculty that d...

CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: 'The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses.'

Ambrose Bierce 1281 quotes

Добрые, щедрые, великодушные: 6 советских актеров, которые были всеобщими любимчиками

23

Советских актёров часто ставят в пример как образец духовной силы, национальной гордости и внутренней красоты. Они стали символами эпохи, носителями культуры и нравственности. Но, как известно, за кул...

Десять кинозвезд, которые отлично поют

83

Актеры — люди творческие, но кто бы мог подумать, что некоторые из них скрывают прекрасный голос. В эпоху раннего Голливуда актеров с музыкальными способностями было немало — это считалось скорее норм...

Мэрилин Монро, Ким Кардашьян и другие

115

Неузнаваемая Ким Кардашьян в объективе фотографа Маркуса Клинко, 2009 год. Памела Андерсон в самой первой съёмке для журнала «Playboy», 1990. На фото голливудская актриса Dorothy Lamour и шимпанзе Джи...

Что стало с детьми-звездами: Рэдклифф и компания спустя годы

219

Расскажем, как сложилась судьба актеров, которые начинали сниматься еще в детстве.
Остаться на вершине в Голливуде удаётся не каждому, особенно если путь начался в детстве. Одни актёры теряются из-за...

Жизнь за границей: как изменились судьбы 7 уехавших телеведущих

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Два года назад отечественное телевидение столкнулось с беспрецедентной кадровой тектоникой — целая группа ярких и узнаваемых ведущих стремительно исчезла с экранов федеральных каналов. Эти лица долгие...

Кира Найтли, Деми Мур и другие

165

Кира Найтли на страницах журнала к выходу фильма «Пиджак», 2005. Следы динозавра, раскопанные в русле реки Палакси. Техас. США. 1952г. Самая большая женщина рядом с самым маленьким мужчиной, 1922 год....