Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.

Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.

We are all creatures of our ancestry! There is no right and wrong, objectively.

We are all creatures of our ancestry! There is no right and wrong, objectively.

No, my friends, I go (always other things being equal) for the
man that inherits family traditions and the read more

No, my friends, I go (always other things being equal) for the
man that inherits family traditions and the cumulative humanities
of at least four or five generations.

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.

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

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

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.]

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.

A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good read more

A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like
a turnip. There is nothing good of him but that which is
underground.

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.