Nobility

"It is necessary therefore that the person who is to study, with any tolerable chance of profit, the principles of nobleness and justice and politics generally, should have received a good moral training. For our data here are moral judgments, and if a man knows what it is right to do, he does not require a formal reason. And a person that has been thus trained, either possesses these first principles already, or can easily acquire them. As for him who neither possesses nor can acquire them, let him take to heart the words of Hesiod:"

"‘ He is the best of all who thinks for himself in all things."

"He, too, is good who takes advice from a wiser (person)."

"But he who neither thinks for himself, nor lays to heart another's wisdom, this is a useless man.’"

"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state."

"Il sangue nobile è un accidente della fortuna; le azioni nobili caratterizzano il grande."

"I had been too long away from the nobility; I had forgotten how silly even the best of them could be."

"to men and women there falls the task of exploring truth with their reason, and in this their nobility consists."

"Be noble in every thought And in every deed!"

"Noble by birth, yet nobler by great deeds."

"As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness."

"Be NOBLE! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own."

"Be aristocracy the only joy: Let commerce perish — let the world expire."

"Almost all the noblest things that have been achieved in the world, have been achieved by poor men; poor scholars, poor professional men, poor artisans and artists, poor philosophers, poets, and men of genius."

"Take heed that ye love not human glory in any respect, lest your portion also be reckoned among those to whom it was said, "How can ye believe, who seek glory, one from another?" and of whom it is said through the prophet, "Increase evils to them; increase evils to the boastful of the earth"; and elsewhere, "Ye are confounded from your boasting, from your reproaching in the sight of the Lord." For I do not wish you to have regard to those, who are virgins of the world, and not of Christ; who unmindful of their purpose and profession, rejoice in delicacies, are delighted with riches, and boast of their descent from a merely carnal nobility; who, if they assuredly believed themselves to be the daughters of God, would never, after their divine ancestry, admire mere human nobility, nor glory in any honored earthly father: if they felt that they had God as their Father, they would not love any nobility connected with the flesh."

"His nature is too noble for the world: He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for's power to thunder."

"This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar; He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them."

"The Chauci are the noblest of the German races, a nation who would maintain their greatness by righteous dealing. Without ambition, without lawless violence, they live peaceful and secluded, never provoking a war or injuring others by rapine and robbery. Indeed, the crowning proof of their valor and their strength is, that they keep up their superiority without harm to others. Yet all have their weapons in readiness, and an army if necessary, with a multitude of men and horses; and even while at peace they have the same renown of valor."

"Better not to be at all Than not be noble."

"Titles are marks of honest men, and wise: The fool or knave that wears a title lies."

"If there is anything good about nobility it is that it enforces the necessity of avoiding degeneracy."

"Inquinat egregios adjuncta superbia mores."

"Ay, these look like the workmanship of heaven; This is the porcelain clay of human kind, And therefore cast into these noble moulds."

"O lady, nobility is thine, and thy form is the reflection of thy nature!"

"There are epidemics of nobleness as well as epidemics of disease."

"Ein edler Mensch zieht edle Menschen an, Und weiss sie fest zu halten, wie ihr thut."

"Fond man! though all the heroes of your line Bedeck your halls, and round your galleries shine In proud display; yet take this truth from me— Virtue alone is true nobility!"

"Noblesse oblige."

"Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die, But leave us still our old nobility."

"Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating."