ess
seemest to enjoy thyself?" "Naught else is enjoyable--I am Contentment."
"Ha! thine must be a magic shirt. Off with it! I shiver in my fine
attire." "I have no shirt. Pass on, Success."

Ignorance when inevitable is excusable. It may be harmless, even
beneficial; but it is charming only to the unwise. To affect a spurious
ignorance is to disclose a genuine.

Because you will not take by theft what you can have by cheating, think
not yours is the only conscience in the world. Even he who permits you
to cheat his neighbor will shrink from permitting you to cheat himself.

"God keep thee, stranger; what is thy name?" "Wisdom. And thine?"
"Knowledge. How does it happen that we meet?" "This is an intersection
of our paths." "Will it ever be decreed that we travel always the same
road?" "We were well named if we knew."

Nothing is more logical than persecution. Religious tolerance is a kind
of infidelity.

Convictions are variable; to be always consistent is to be sometimes
dishonest.

The philosopher's profoundest conviction is that which he is most
reluctant to express, lest he mislead.

When exchange of identities is possible, be careful; you may choose a
person who is willing.

The most intolerant advocate is he who is trying to convince himself.

In the Parliament of Otumwee the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed a
tax on fools. "The right honorable and generous gentleman," said a
member, "forgets that we already have it in the poll tax."

"Whose dead body is that?" "Credulity's." "By whom was he slain?"
"Credulity." "Ah, suicide." "No, surfeit. He dined at the table of
Science, and swallowed all that was set before him."

Don't board with the devil if you wish to be fat.

Pray do not despise your delinquent debtor; his default is no proof of
poverty.

Courage is the acceptance of the gambler's chance: a brave man bets
against the game of the gods.

"Who art thou?" "A philanthropist. And thou?" "A pauper." "Away! you
have nothing to relieve my needs."

Youth looks forward, for nothing is behind! Age backward, for nothing is
before.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cynic Looks at Life, by Ambrose Bierce

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