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

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

"My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."
- Iphicrates,

"My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."
- Iphicrates,

The nobler the blood the less the pride

The nobler the blood the less the pride

One who is proud of ancestry is like a turnip; there is nothing good of him but that which is read more

One who is proud of ancestry is like a turnip; there is nothing good of him but that which is underground

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

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

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.

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.

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?

Of what use are pedigrees, or to be thought of noble blood, or
the display of family portraits, O read more

Of what use are pedigrees, or to be thought of noble blood, or
the display of family portraits, O Ponticus?
[Lat., Stemmata quid faciunt, quid prodest, Pontice, longo,
Sanguine censeri pictosque ostendere vultus.]