"That Old Birds are not to be Caught with Chaff".
Sketches from Life (1846)
Context: The ancient gentleman who has seen the world, who is profoundly experienced, and much too deep to be the dupe of an age so shallow as this, is to be won by an admiring glance at the brilliancy of his knee-buckle; praise his very pigtail, and you may lead him by it.
“A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.”
Variant: The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid
Source: "Northanger Abbey" (1817)
Interview with the New York Herald
Jay Gould : A Character Sketch (1893)
Second Reply to Hayne (1830)
“A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.”
“When Adam delved, and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?”
Sermon at Blackheath (12 June 1381), quoted in Annals, or a General Chronicle of England my nugget
Context: When Adam delved, and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.
“The Landlord is a gentleman … who does not earn his wealth.”
Speech in Limehouse, East London (30 July 1909), quoted in Better Times: Speeches by the Right Hon. D. Lloyd George, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910), pp. 150-151.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Context: Who is the landlord? The Landlord is a gentleman … who does not earn his wealth. He does not even take the trouble to receive his wealth. He has a host of agents and clerks that receive it for him. He does not even take the trouble to spend his wealth. He has a host of people around him to do the actual spending for him. He never sees it until he comes to enjoy it. His sole function, his chief pride is stately consumption of wealth produced by others.
“A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.”
“A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the banjo and doesn't.”
“A gentleman is a man who never hurts anybody else unintentionally.”
Herbert Farjeon's Cricket Bag
