He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another.

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another.

D'Adam nous sommes tous enfants,
La prove en est connue,
Et que tous, nos premier parents
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D'Adam nous sommes tous enfants,
La prove en est connue,
Et que tous, nos premier parents
Ont mene la charrue.
Mais, las de cultiver enfin
La terre labouree
L'une a detele le matin,
L'autre l'apres-dinee.

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.

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.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., read more

Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., Nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco.]

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another

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?