“If there be no nobility of descent, all the more indispensable is it that there should be nobility of ascent, — a character in them that bear rule so fine and high and pure that as men come within the circle of its influence they involuntarily pay homage to that which is the one pre-eminent distinction, the royalty of virtue.”

— Henry Codman Potter

Address at the Washington Centennial Service in St. Paul's Chapel, New York, April 30, 1889.

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Henry Codman Potter 2

Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York 1835–1908

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