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.

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,

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.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

Born is a Cellar, . . . and living in a Garret.

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.]

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.

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.

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another

He who boasts of his ancestry praises the merits of another