Ambrose Bierce Quotes on Fame (13 Quotes)

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

POSTERITY, n. An appellate court which reverses the judgment of a popular author's contemporaries, the appellant being his obscure competitor.

RIOT, n. A popular entertainment given to the military by innocent bystanders.

PLEBISCITE, n. A popular vote to ascertain the will of the sovereign.

HURRICANE, n. An atmospheric demonstration once very common but now generally abandoned for the tornado and cyclone. The hurricane is still in popular use in the West Indies and is preferred by certain old-fashioned sea-captains.

OLD, adj. In that stage of usefulness which is not inconsistent with general inefficiency, as an 'old man'. Discredited by lapse of time and offensive to the popular taste, as an 'old' book.

WORSHIP, n. Homo Creator's testimony to the sound construction and fine finish of Deus Creatus. A popular form of abjection, having an element of pride.

ZANY, n. A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the 'buffone', or clown, and was therefore the ape of an ape for the clown himself imitated the serious characters of the play.

NOTORIETY, n. The fame of one's competitor for public honors. The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity. A Jacob's-ladder leading to the vaudeville stage, with angels ascending and descending.

IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage, to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound .... properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position.

INSCRIPTION, n. Something written on another thing mostly memorial, intended to commemorate the fame of some illustrious person and hand down to distant ages ... e.g., the name of John Smith, penciled on the Washington monument.

ORTHODOX, n. An ox wearing the popular religious joke.

PLATITUDE, n. The fundamental element and special glory of popular literature. A thought that snores in words that smoke. All that is mortal of a departed truth. A jelly-fish withering on the shore of the sea of thought. A desiccated epigram.