Related:

• CHILDHOOD, n. The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth -- two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• COMFORT, n. A state of mind produced by contemplation of a neighbor's uneasiness.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• BIGAMY, n. A mistake in taste for which the wisdom of the future will adjudge a punishment called trigamy.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• PENITENT, adj. Undergoing or awaiting punishment. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary
• REPENTANCE, n. The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment.
  It is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not inconsistent with continuity of sin....
• ALIEN, n. An American sovereign in his probationary state.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• EXTINCTION, n. The raw material out of which theology created the future state.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• MAYONNAISE, n. One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• AMNESTY, n. The state's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would be too expensive to punish.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...