Quotes about Ancestry

“Breed is stronger than pasture.”

“High birth is an accident, not a virtue.”

“Heredity is nothing, but stored environment.”

“The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.”

“Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.”

“Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.”

“Every man is an omnibus in which his ancestors ride.”

“Is anyone simply by birth to be applauded or punished?”

“Clever father, clever daughter; clever mother, clever son.”

“He who boasts of his descent, praises the deed of another.”

“Mules are always boasting that their ancestors were horses.”

“We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.”

“Unworthy offspring brag the most about their worthy descendants.”

“Those who boast of their decent, brag on what they owe to others.”

“Hereditary honors are a noble and a splendid treasure to descendants.”

“I don't have to look up my family tree, because I know that I'm the sap.”

“If your descent is from heroic sires, show in your life a remnant of their fires.”

“Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.”

“My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower, but they were there to meet the boat.”

“It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.”

“I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”

“Genealogy. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own.”

“Englishmen hate Liberty and Equality too much to understand them. But every Englishman loves a pedigree.”

“Nothing is so soothing to our self esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us.”

“Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.”

“No one is better born than another, unless they are born with better abilities and a more amiable disposition.”

“Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.”

“The person who has nothing to brag about but their ancestors is like a potato; the best part of them is underground.”

“None of us can boast about the morality of our ancestors. The record does not show that Adam and Eve were ever married.”

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrations and revolutionists.”