There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that they rose in the world through their own industry and talents. It is the same shabby-genteel sentiment, the same vanity of birth, which makes men prefer to believe that they are degenerated angels rather than elevated apes.


"Liberty", p. 315. - The Martyrdom of Man (1872)

William Winwood Reade Quotes

There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that...

There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that...

There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that...

There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that...