Only the master of the art of cynicism succeeds in carrying out the formidable task of distinction, that of knowing how to "see things as they are"; for cynicism always has something of a revealer, of an unmasker of more or less institutionalized lies. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) is a genius burned by the spirit of truth who burns down temples and palaces in his path, and he does so with brief and clear texts; for, as the ancients knew, the language of truth is simple. In contrast to convoluted explanations, in contrast to the complexity of deception, truth tends to be brief and clear.