
“A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.”
Torquato Tasso, Act I, sc. i (1790)
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Prophet
“A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.”
Torquato Tasso, Act I, sc. i (1790)
Quand la religion et la royauté seront abattues, le peuple en viendra aux grands, après les grands il s'en prendra aux riches.
Source: About Catherine de' Medici (1842), Part II: The Ruggieri's Secret, Ch. V: The Alchemists.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 220.
“Innocence in genius, and candor in power, are both noble qualities.”
Pt. 2, ch. 8
De l’Allemagne [Germany] (1813)
“Every gift of noble origin
Is breathed upon by Hope’s perpetual breath.”
These Times strike Monied Worldlings.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Variant: Every gift of noble origin
Is breathed upon by Hope’s perpetual breath.
1820s, Signs of the Times (1829)
“It is noble to be shy, illustrious not to know how to act, great not to have a gift for living.”
Ibid., p. 86
The Book of Disquiet
Original: É nobre ser tímido, ilustre não saber agir, grande não ter jeito para viver.
“The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting.”
Source: Analects of Confucius
“People of Kommagini, let the glory of Antiochos,
the noble king, be celebrated as it deserves.”
" Epitaph of Antiochos, King of Kommagini http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_115.htm" (1923) <!-- some of the ironies of the poem are lost with only this portion of it … but so it goes...-->
Context: People of Kommagini, let the glory of Antiochos,
the noble king, be celebrated as it deserves.
He was a provident ruler of the country.
He was just, wise, courageous.
In addition he was that best of all things, Hellenic —
mankind has no quality more precious:
everything beyond that belongs to the gods.