Quotes About Aristocracy

It has always been the aim of royalty and aristocracy to lower the individual liberty and independence of the common people. A baron and a minute-man could not breathe the same air.

Contrary to the belief of those outside it, the aristocratic upbringing of their generation was harsh and demanding of self discipline.

For Jefferson, there was one step crucial to creating a genuine natural aristocracy. The poor and rich had to have equal access to a good education.

La primera enseñanza de la polis griega es que la peor ley escrita es mejor que el albedrío del más magnánimo de los señores. No es extraño qüe la aristocracia primitiva exigiese que las leyes le asegurasen su poder mediante «draconianas» disposiciones, y que, aun así, la aceptación de las leyes hubiese de serle arrancada. Sabía que la concesión que se veía obligada a hacer era cualitativamente impagable, que no podía haber contrapartida equivalente.

What you call extravagance is really comfort, pleasure and polish, which the lower orders learn from the aristocracy, and so grow civilised themselves. I have heard from very liberal people that there must be classes in society that cultivate science, art and refined manners — first, so that others may take living examples from them, and then to provide encouragement for noble actions.

He is only six years older than me. Ooh-ooh-ooh," she wailed in a quite unaristocratic, entirely demotic manner, like a peasant woman, and Dolgorukoi's composure dissolved completely.

Win. He was often described in the society pages as an "international playboy," and she guessed that fit. He was blue-blooded old money, very old money, the kind of old money that disembarked from the Mayflower and immediately called for a caddy and a tee time.

In revolt against this new and very evil thing came the republicanism of the eighteenth century, inspired and directed in large measure by members of the fast perishing aristocracy of race, character and tradition.

Van realmente a tolerar ser descaradamente empujados a un lado, tolerar esa fría ignorancia, a la joven austríaca que se rodea de tipos desconocidos y mujeres dudosas, en vez de rodearse de la nobleza tradicional, asentada durante siglos? Los excluidos se arremolinan. Cada día, cada año aumentan sus filas. Y pronto por las desiertas ventanas de Versalles el odio de cien ojos mira hacia el despreocupado e ingenuo mundo de juegos de la reina.

without any actual aristocracy in America, the best those who wanted to be upper class could do was create systems of exclusivity and codes of conduct.

I mean the truth is, I've always been interested in the whole setup of the old world.

The greatest sin of the academic left is that it has become fundamentally aristocratic, writing in bizarre jargon that makes cliches seem abstruse. If you can't explain your ideal to a fairly intelligent 12-year-old, it's probably your own fault.

I remember once reading that the tenth Duke of Marlborough, on a visit to one of his daughter's homes, announced in consternation from the top of the stairs that his toothbrush wasn't foaming properly. It turned out that his valet had always put toothpaste on his brush for him, and as a consequence the duke was unaware that dental implements didn't foam up spontaneously. I rest my case.

Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, whose achievements over the last eleven generations could be inscribed with a Sharpie on the side of a peanut.

A breakfast recorded by the Duke of Wellington consisted of 'two pigeons and three beefsteaks, three parts of a bottle of Mozelle, a glass of champagne, two glasses of port and a glass of brandy' – and this was when he was feeling a little under the weather.

BEFORE HE CAME INTO a lot of money in 1839, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, second Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, led a largely uneventful life.

Young, handsome, blond as ice, and dressed as splendidly as King Malban himself, if with better taste.

There is only one true aristocracy . . . and that is the aristocracy of passionate souls!

For Simon Arthur Henry Fitzranulph Basset would not spend his life as Earl Clyvedon. That was a mere courtesy title. Simon Arthur Henry Fitzranulph Basset—the baby who possessed more names than any baby could possibly need—was the heir to one of England's oldest and richest dukedoms. And his father, the ninth Duke of Hastings, had waited years for this moment

Ton père? Il est le dernier de cette race effrayante des Tournemine, qui durant les siècles, ont fondu comme des oiseaux de proie sur tout ce qui passait à portée de leurs tours (.....) Il ne lui restait rien de la puissance ni de l'énorme fortune qui faisaient dire, à certaine époque, que les messieurs de La Hunaudaye étaient seulement un peu moins grands seigneurs que le Roi de France. Il s'appelait Pierre ....

The hands of the latest aristocrats seem better fit to hold tennis rackets or shakers for cocktail mixes than swords or scepter.

Ladies from fine old Imperial families shouldn't sleep in tents and shit in ditches. Exactly what they were supposed to do all day nobody had quite figured out yet; be put away in cupboards when not in use seemed to be the prevailing opinion.

it is moral geometry, inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe. It represents the true spirit of Eastern democracy by making all its votaries aristocrats in taste.

I've always been fascinated with aristocracy. I'm really interested in the Ivy Leagues, the final clubs, all the really old-money families, the concept of old money.