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

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.

A nation is a society united by a delusion about it's ancestry and by a common hatred of it's neighbours.

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.]

Born in the garret, in the kitchen bred.

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

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.

Faith, I know nothing about it; I am my own ancestor. [Fr., An, ma foi, je n'en sais rien; moi je suis mon ancetre.]

Few sons attain the praise Of their great sires and most their sires disgrace.

Great families of yesterday we show, And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.