“A man is the sum of his ancestors; to reform him you must begin with a dead ape and work downward through a million graves. He is like the lower end of a suspended chain; you can sway him slightly to the right or the left, but remove your hand and he falls into line with the other links.”

Source: Epigrams, p. 363

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Do you have more details about the quote "A man is the sum of his ancestors; to reform him you must begin with a dead ape and work downward through a million gra…" by Ambrose Bierce?
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Ambrose Bierce 204
American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabu… 1842–1914

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