SYCOPHANT, n. One who approaches Greatness on his belly so that he may not be commanded to turn and be kicked. He is sometimes an editor.
More Quotes from Ambrose Bierce:
ORPHAN, n. A living person whom death has deprived of the power of filial ingratitude ...Ambrose Bierce
ABDOMEN, n. The temple of the god Stomach, in whose worship, with sacrificial rights, all true men engage. From women this ancient faith commands but a stammering assent. They sometimes minister at the altar in a half-hearted and ineffective way, but true reverence for the one deity that men really adore they know not. If woman had a free hand in the world's marketing the race would become graminivorous.
Ambrose Bierce
DARING, n. One of the most conspicuous qualities of a man in security.
Ambrose Bierce
RIBALDRY, n. Censorious language by another concerning oneself.
Ambrose Bierce
Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
Ambrose Bierce
RABBLE, n. In a republic, those who exercise a supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections. The rabble is like the sacred Simurgh, of Arabian fable omnipotent on condition that it do nothing.
Ambrose Bierce
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