The Devil's Dictionary is
a satirical dictionary written by Ambrose Bierce (1842-c.1914,
caricatured above by David Levine). Bierce was an American author who
began the book as a newspaper serial. First published in 1906 as The Cynic's Word Book,
it was retitled in 1911, using the name we know it by today, which is
the title that Bierce preferred. Some of the definitions have not aged
all that well, but many have.
OPTIMIST, n. A proponent of the doctrine that black is white.
OPTIMIST, n. A proponent of the doctrine that black is white.


