Nobility Quotes

Art is in itself noble; that is why the artist has no fear of what is common. This, indeed, is already ennobled when he takes it up.

Every noble activity makes room for itself.

He then alone will strictly be called brave who is fearless of a noble death, and of all such chances as come upon us with sudden death in their train.

The artificial noble shrinks into a dwarf before the noble of nature; and in the few instances (for there are some in all countries) in whom nature, as by a miracle, has survived in aristocracy, those men despise it.

When two friends part they should lock up each other's secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.

All nobility in its beginnings was somebody's natural superiority.

I hold it cowardice To rest mistrustful where a noble heart Hath pawned an open hand in sign of love.

This was the noblest Roman of them all. All the conspirators, save only he,Did that they did in envy of Caesar;He only, in a general honest thoughtAnd common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elementsSo mixd in him that Nature might stand upAnd say to all the world, This was a man!

Rascals are always sociable, more's the pity! and the chief sign that a man has any nobility in his character is the little pleasure he takes in others' company.

When a noble deed is done, who is likely to appreciate it? They who are noble themselves.

It is very noble hypocrisy not to talk of one's self.

The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.

The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.

The heroic soul does not sell its justice and its nobleness.

I am joined with no foot land-rakers, no long-staff, sixpenny strikers, none of these mad, mustachio purple-hued maltworms, but with nobility and tranquillity.

It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right --especially when one is right.

Thanks to menOf noble minds, is honorable meed.

If we must suffer, let us suffer nobly.

The fact that we still live well cannot ease the feeling that we no longer live nobly.

A noble soul alone can noble souls attract; And knows alone, as ye, to hold them.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.

The noble must make humility his root.

Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.

The noble type of man feels himself to be the determiner of values, he does not need to be approved of, he judges 'what harms me is harmful in itself', he knows himself to be that which in general accords honour to things, he creates values.

How much reverence has a noble man for his enemies!--and such reverence is a bridge to love.--For he desires his enemy for himself, as his mark of distinction; he can endure no other enemy than one in whom there is nothing to despise and very much to honor! In contrast to this, picture "the enemy" as the man of ressentiment conceives him--and here precisely is his deed, his creation: he has conceived "the evil enemy," "the Evil One," and this in fact is his basic concept, from which he then evolves, as an afterthought and pendant, a "good one"--himself!

Truth is so excellent, that if it praises but small things they become noble.

To generous souls every task is noble.

If a man be endowed with a generous mind, this is the best kind of nobility.

It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

What's brave, what's noble, let's do it after the Roman fashion.

This is the manner of noble souls: they do not want to have anything for nothing; least of all, life. Whoever is of the mob wants to live for nothing; we others, however, to whom life gave itself, we always think about what we might best give in return... One should not wish to enjoy where one does not give joy.

The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur.

It is not rebellion itself which is noble but the demands it makes upon us.

The great advantage in noble parentage is that enables one to endure poverty more easily.

It is noble to teach oneself; it is still nobler to teach others.

We commonly say that the rich man can speak the truth, can afford honesty, can afford independence of opinion and action;--and that is the theory of nobility. But it is the rich man in a true sense, that is to say, not the man of large income and large expenditure, but solely the man whose outlay is less than his income and is steadily kept so.

Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men.

Not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and worthy of praise.

There is something noble in hearing myself ill spoken of, when I am doing well.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

Only the noble of heart are called to difficulty.

But tell me: how did gold get to be the highest value? Because it is uncommon and useless and gleaming and gentle in its brilliance; it always gives itself. Only as an image of the highest virtue did gold get to be the highest value. The giver's glance gleams like gold. A golden brilliance concludes peace between the moon and the sun. Uncommon is the highest virtue and useless, it is gleaming and gentle in its brilliance: a gift-giving virtue is the highest virtue.

All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.

The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.

Spirits are not finely touched But to fine issues.

We must be gentle now we are gentlemen.

There speaks the man of truly noble ways, Who will not listen to the words of praise. In modesty averse, and with deaf ears, He acts as though the others were his peers.

Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.

The noble man honours in himself the powerful one, him also who has power over himself, who knows how to speak and how to keep silence, who takes pleasure in subjecting himself to severity and hardness, and has reverence for all that is severe and hard.

And real nobility (that of the heart) is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference.

Noblesse oblige; or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity.

I no longer desire happiness: life is nobler than that.

O lady, nobility is thine, and thy form is the reflection of thy nature!

A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

In our daily intercourse with men, our nobler faculties are dormant and suffered to rust. None will pay us the compliment to expect nobleness from us. Though we have gold to give, they demand only copper.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

If you ask: What is the good of education? The answer is easy: Education makes good men and good men act nobly.

To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.