7 Quotes by Ambrose Bierce about kings


  • Author Ambrose Bierce
  • Quote

    A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority. It was originally a mace with which the sovereign admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the bones of their proponents.

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  • Author Ambrose Bierce
  • Quote

    Legitimate authority to be, to do or to have; as the right to be a king, the right to do one's neighbor, the right to have measles, and the like.

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  • Author Ambrose Bierce
  • Quote

    ZOOLOGY, n. The science and history of the animal kingdom, including its king, the House Fly ("Musca maledicta"). The father of Zoology was Aristotle, as is universally conceded, but the name of its mother has not come down to us.

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  • Author Ambrose Bierce
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    JESTER, n. An officer attached to the king's household to amuse the court by ludicrous actions and utterances . . . the king's own conduct and decrees [being] sufficiently ridiculous for the amusement not only of his court but of all mankind.

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  • Author Ambrose Bierce
  • Quote

    KING, n. A male person commonly known in America as a "crowned head," although he never wears a crown and has usually no head to speak of.

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  • Author Ambrose Bierce
  • Quote

    MAJESTY, n. The state and title of a king. Regarded with a just contempt by the Most Eminent Grand Masters, Grand Chancellors, Great Incohonees and Imperial Potentates of the ancient and honorable orders of republican America.

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