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Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.
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.
"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,
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
The brave are born from the brave and good. In steers and in
horses is to be found the read more
The brave are born from the brave and good. In steers and in
horses is to be found the excellence of their sire; nor do savage
eagles produce a peaceful dove.
[Lat., Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis;
Est in juvenis, est in equibus patrum
Virtus; nee imbellem feroces
Progenerant aquilae columbam.]
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.
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.]
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.
Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., read more
Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves
achieved, we can scarcely call our own.
[Lat., Nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco.]