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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.
I came up-stairs into the world; for I was born in a cellar.
I came up-stairs into the world; for I was born in a cellar.
Sence I've ben here, I've hired a chap to look about for me,
To git me a transplantable an' read more
Sence I've ben here, I've hired a chap to look about for me,
To git me a transplantable an' thrifty fem'ly-tree.
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.
Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.
Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.
Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.
Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.
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.
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look
backward to their ancestors.
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look
backward to their 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.]