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THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

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<strong>Ambrose</strong> <strong>Bierce</strong> The Devil’s Dictionary<br />

punctures in the swim‐bladder of self‐esteem‐‐a kind of contest in<br />

which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is<br />

denied the reward of success.<br />

'Tis said by divers of the scholar‐men<br />

That poor Salmasius died of Milton's pen.<br />

Alas! we cannot know if this is true,<br />

For reading Milton's wit we perish too.<br />

LONGANIMITY, n. The disposition to endure injury with meek forbearance<br />

while maturing a plan of revenge.<br />

LONGEVITY, n. Uncommon extension of the fear of death.<br />

LOOKING‐GLASS, n. A vitreous plane upon which to display a fleeting<br />

show for man's disillusion given.<br />

The King of Manchuria had a magic looking‐glass, whereon whoso<br />

looked saw, not his own image, but only that of the king. A certain<br />

courtier who had long enjoyed the king's favor and was thereby<br />

enriched beyond any other subject of the realm, said to the king:<br />

"Give me, I pray, thy wonderful mirror, so that when absent out of<br />

thine august presence I may yet do homage before thy visible shadow,<br />

prostrating myself night and morning in the glory of thy benign<br />

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