lower quotes

Man was kreated a little lower than the angells and has bin gittin a little lower ever since.

-Josh pseudonym of  Henry Wheeler Shaw Billings
  Josh Billings, His Sayings, ch.28.

Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes! Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow ye masses!

- Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck) Gilbert
  Chorus, Iolanthe, act1 (first performed 25 Nov, simultaneously in London and NewYork).

Why, as civilization spreads, do outstanding men become fewer? Why, when attainments are the lot of all, do great intellectual talents become rarer? Why, when there are no longer lower classes, are there no longer upper classes? Why, when knowledge of how to rule reaches the masses, is there a lackof great abilities in the direction of society? America clearly poses these questions.But who can answer them?

- Alexis Charles Henri Cle  rel de Tocqueville
  Translated by George Lawrence. Quoted in J P Mayer (ed) Journey toAmerica (1960).

Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?

- Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills Wilde
  Algernon.The Importance of Being Earnest, act1.