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.

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.

Few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

Few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

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.

The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of
the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging read more

The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of
the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it,
and that which tends most to the perpetuation of society itself.
It makes our weakness subservient to our virtue; it grafts
benevolence even upon avarice. The possession of family wealth
and of the distinction which attends hereditary possessions (as
most concerned in it,) are the natural securities for this
transmission.

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had read more

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

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?

Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.

Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.

The nobler the blood the less the pride

The nobler the blood the less the pride