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The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious
ancestors is like a potato,--the only good read more
The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious
ancestors is like a potato,--the only good belonging to him is
under ground.
Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then read more
Say, when the ground our father Adam till'd,
And mother Eve the humble distaff held,
Who then his pedigree presumed to trace,
Or challenged the prerogative of place?
[Lat., Primus Adam duro cum vertet arva ligone,
Pensaque de vili deceret Eva colo:
Ecquis in hoc poterat vir nobilis orbe videri?
Et modo quisquam alios ante locandue erir?
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
A nation is a society united by a delusion about it's ancestry and by a common hatred of it's neighbours.
A nation is a society united by a delusion about it's ancestry and by a common hatred of it's neighbours.
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
It is disgraceful when the passers-by exclaim, "O ancient house!
alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy read more
It is disgraceful when the passers-by exclaim, "O ancient house!
alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy former one."
[Lat., Odiosum est enim, cum a praetereuntibus dicatur:--O domus
antiqua, heu, quam dispari dominare domino.]
A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good read more
A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good of him but that which is
underground.
Some decent regulated pre-eminence, some preference (not
exclusive appropriation) given to birth, is neither unnatural,
nor unjust, nor read more
Some decent regulated pre-eminence, some preference (not
exclusive appropriation) given to birth, is neither unnatural,
nor unjust, nor impolite.
