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

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 />

only to ignore those that make against his interest and accentuate<br />

those in the line of his desire. Invention of the precedent elevates<br />

the trial‐at‐law from the low estate of a fortuitous ordeal to the<br />

noble attitude of a dirigible arbitrament.<br />

PRECIPITATE, adj. Anteprandial.<br />

Precipitate in all, this sinner<br />

Took action first, and then his dinner.<br />

Judibras<br />

PREDESTINATION, n. The doctrine that all things occur according to<br />

programme. This doctrine should not be confused with that of<br />

foreordination, which means that all things are programmed, but does<br />

not affirm their occurrence, that being only an implication from other<br />

doctrines by which this is entailed. The difference is great enough<br />

to have deluged Christendom with ink, to say nothing of the gore.<br />

With the distinction of the two doctrines kept well in mind, and a<br />

reverent belief in both, one may hope to escape perdition if spared.<br />

PREDICAMENT, n. The wage of consistency.<br />

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