We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect.
Ambrose BierceDEGRADATION, n. One of the stages of moral and social progress from private station to political preferment.
Ambrose BierceENTERTAINMENT, n. Any kind of amusement whose inroads stop short of death by injection.
Ambrose BierceBRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think that we think. That which distinguishes the man who is content to be something from the man who wishes to do something. A man of great wealth, or one who has been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on. In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Ambrose BierceGUNPOWDER, n. An agency employed by civilized nations for the settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left unadjusted. By most writers the invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese, but not upon very convincing evidence. Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels.
Ambrose Bierce