The wisdom of our ancestors.

The wisdom of our ancestors.

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood, of all the Howards.

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood, of all the Howards.

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another

Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.

Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.

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.

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 look upon you as a gem of the old rock.

I look upon you as a gem of the old rock.

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.

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.