Authors, Poets & Novelists Posters & Prints, “Bi...-”,
for the literature, language arts and social studies classrooms and homeschoolers.

Ambrose Bierce
b. 6-24-1842; Meigs Co., Ohio
d. c. 1914?, Mexico

Ambrose Bierce, a Civil War veteran, is best known for his short, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and his sensational disappearance while observing the bandit Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution. In one of his last letters he said, “Good-bye — if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico—ah, that is euthanasia!”

Ambrose Bierce quotes ~
• “Quoting: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another.”
• “You don't have to be stupid to be a Christian, ... but it probably helps.
• “CONSERVATIVE, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.”
• “EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.”
• “IMPIETY, n. Your irreverence toward my deity.”
• “INFIDEL, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.”
• “LOTTERY: A tax on people who are bad at math.”
• “LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.”
• “NOVEMBER, n. The eleventh twelfth of a weariness.”
• “PATRIOTISM, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first.”
• “PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.”
• “SELFISH, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.”
• “SWEATER, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.”
• “War is God's way of teaching Americans geography.”
• “All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.”
• “There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know.”
• “The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog.”
• “Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.”
• “Twice – Once too often.”

FYI ~ Ambrose Bierce was friends with Ina Coolbrith, the first Poet Laureate of California. He was also a member of the Bohemian Club with the likes of Jack London, Frank Gelett Burgess, Allan Dunn, John Muir, and Frank Norris.

• Ambrose Bierce Quote poster - accordian
• Ambrose Bierce Quote poster - dentist
• The Devil's Dictionary

Saint Hildegard von Bingen
b. 1098; Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
d. 9-17-1179

Saint Hildegard von Bingen should be considered a “polymath” (a person with varied knowledge and learning). She was an “abbess, artist, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, teacher, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, activist, visionary, and composer”.

• Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias
• women artists posters

Elizabeth Bishop
b. 2-8-1911; Worcester, MA
d. 10-6-1979; Boston

Elizabeth Bishop, poet and teacher, was Poet Laureate of the United States (1949-50). She also won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Poems - North and South, the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

Elizabeth Bishop quotes ~
• “Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs – no regular hours, so many temptations!”
• “If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I'm sure it's a good one – and the same goes for paintings.”

FYI ~ “In the Waiting Room” refers to the adventurers Martin and Osa Johnson.

• The Complete Poems, 1927-1979

Isabella Bird Bishop
b. 10-15-1831; Boroughbridge, England
d. 10-7-1904; Edinburgh, Scotland

Isabella Bird Bishop was a sickly child and spent her entire life struggling with illness that may have been psychogenic, for when she was doing exactly what she wanted she was almost never ill. Her real desire was to travel and so conducted a life of travel supported by writing about her travels.

Isabella Bird Bishop quote ~
• “I have found a dream of beauty at which one might look all one's life and sigh.” ~ Adventures in the Rocky Mountains

• more explorer posters
• mountain posters
• Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, including a summer in the Upper Karun region and a visit to the Nestorian rayahs: Volume 1

Bjornstjerne Bjornson
b. 12-8-1832; Kvikne, Norway
d. 4-26-1910; Paris

Bjornstjerne Bjornson was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature “as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit.”