WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:23:15 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg saw – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Bierce, Ambrose -- “Adage,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-03-05) https://wist.info/bierce-ambrose/81811/ https://wist.info/bierce-ambrose/81811/#respond Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:16:43 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=81811 ADAGE, n. A hoary-headed platitude that is kicked along the centuries until nothing is left of it but its clothes. A “saw” which has worn out its teeth on the human understanding.


Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Adage,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-03-05)

Not collected in later books. Instead, in The Cynic's Word Book (1906), he changed it to "Boned wisdom for weak teeth." ]]> https://wist.info/bierce-ambrose/81811/feed/ 0 81811