Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.

Ambrose Bierce coined this definition in his satirical lexicon The Devil’s Dictionary, a work he developed over many years from earlier newspaper columns of cynical “definitions.” Bierce was a Civil War veteran and a lifelong journalist known for his mordant skepticism about politics, war, and public rhetoric. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries—an era of U.S. expansionism and intense nationalist feeling—Bierce repeatedly attacked the way lofty civic ideals could be manipulated by demagogues. The entry for “Patriotism” reflects his broader project: puncturing pieties by recasting them as instruments of ambition and mass persuasion.

Bierce treats “patriotism” not as a virtue but as volatile material—“combustible rubbish”—that can be ignited by anyone seeking personal glory. The metaphor suggests that patriotic sentiment is easily inflamed, spreads quickly, and can be used to justify destructive collective action, especially war. By emphasizing the would-be “illuminate[r]” of his own name, Bierce implies that appeals to national loyalty often serve private ambition rather than the public good. The definition is less a denial that love of country can be sincere than a warning about how readily that emotion can be weaponized through rhetoric and spectacle.