Descent Quotes 

So far has Athens left the rest of mankind behind in thought and expression that her pupils have become the teachers of the world, and she has made the name of Hellas distinctive no longer of race but of intellect, and the title of Hellene a badge of education rather than of common descent.
Share

More Descent Quotes 

That the Macedonians were of Greek stock seems certain. The claim made by the Argead dynasty to be of Argive descent may be no more than a generally accepted myth, but Macedonian proper names, such as Ptolemaios or Philippos, are good Greek names, and the names of the Macedonian months, although differed from those of Athens or Sparta, were also Greek. The language spoken by the Macedonians, which Greeks of the classical period found unintelligible, appears to have been a primitive north-west Greek dialect, much influenced by the languages of the neighboring barbarians.


— "Alexander the Great", Hutchinson, London, 1973

Tags: Macedonians, Greek, stock, certain, claim, Argead, dynasty, Argive, may

Share
twitter

So far has Athens left the rest of mankind behind in thought and expression that her pupils have become the teachers of the world, and she has made the name of Hellas distinctive no longer of race but of intellect, and the title of Hellene a badge of education rather than of common descent.


— Panegyricus, 50

Tags: far, Athens, left, rest, mankind, behind, thought, expression, pupils

Share
twitter

Thismiry slough, issuch a place as cannot be mended: It is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sindoth continually run, and therefore isit called the Slough of Despond.

john bunyan

— 1678  The Pilgrim's Progress, pt.1.

Tags: slough, issuch, place, mended, whither, scum, filth, attends, conviction

Share
twitter

That the Macedonians were of Greek stock seems certain. The claim made by the Argead dynasty to be of Argive descent may be no more than a generally accepted myth, but Macedonian proper names, such as Ptolemaios or Philippos, are good Greek names, and the names of the Macedonian months, although differed from those of Athens or Sparta, were also Greek. The language spoken by the Macedonians, which Greeks of the classical period found unintelligible, appears to have been a primitive northwest Greek dialect, much influenced by the languages of the neighboring barbarians.


— J.R. Hamilton, Australian historian, "Alexander the Great", Hutchinson, London, 1973

Tags: Macedonians, Greek, stock, certain, claim, Argead, dynasty, Argive, may

Share
twitter

If there be no nobility of descent in a nation, it is all the more indispensable 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 homagetothat which is the one pre-eminent distinctionthe royalty of virtue.

Henry Codman Potter

— 1889  Washington centennial address, 30 Apr.

Tags: there, nobility, nation, more, indispensable, ascent, character, bear, rule

Share
twitter

From yon blue heavens above us bent The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent. Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

Tennyson

— 1842  Poems,'Lady ClaraVere deVere', stanza 7, l.50-6.

Tags: yon, blue, heavens, above, us, bent, gardener, Adam, wife

Share
twitter

For what we cannot accomplish, what is denied to love, what we have lost in the anticipation a descent follows, endless and indestructible.

william carlos williams

— 1948  Paterson, bk.2,'Sunday in the Park',1.

Tags: what, we, accomplish, denied, love, lost, anticipation, follows, endless

Share
twitter

The Sizemores are the laughing stock of wannabee genealogy. They claim Cherokee descent, but their paper trail shows them to be white.

lisa alther

— Kinfolks

Tags: laughing, stock, genealogy, claim, paper, trail, shows, white

Share
twitter

As a young man of pure British descent, some of whose forefathers have held high position in the British army, I have always been desirous of devoting what little capability and energy I may possess to the country which I love so dearly.

william joyce

— Peter Martland, "Lord Haw Haw: The English voice of Nazi Germany" (The National Archives, 2003), p. 145. UK National Archives KV 2/245/301a.
— Letter to the University of London Military Education Committee, 9 August 1922.

Tags: young, man, pure, British, forefathers, high, position, army, been

Share
twitter

Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place."

diogenes laërtius

— Anaxagoras, 6.

Tags: Anaxagoras, man, who, grieving, dying, foreign, land, Hades, place

Share
twitter

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.

Tags: there, nobility, more, indispensable, ascent, character, bear, rule, high

Share
twitter

Deconstructing the concept of race not only goes against the tendency of virtually every known culture to classify and build family histories according to some measure of common descent, it also ignores the work of biologists studying non-human species.

j. philippe rushton

— Mankind Quarterly, Winter98, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p231

Tags: concept, race, against, tendency, virtually, known, culture, classify, build

Share
twitter

Who climbs the mountain does not always climb.The winding road slants downward many a time;Yet each descent is higher than the last.

ella wheeler wilcox

— Climbing

Tags: Who, climbs, mountain, climbThe, winding, road, downward, higher, last

Share
twitter

Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness.

Immanuel Kant

— [N]ur die Höllenfahrt des Selbsterkenntnisses bahnt den Weg zur Vergötterung ...
Ak 6:441

Tags: hell, selfknowledge, can, pave, godliness

Share
twitter

While it is true that many Muslim scholars who composed their works in Arabic, both in the religious and in the intellectual sciences, have been of non-Arab descent, Ibn Khald?n's use of the term Arab in his history seems to indicate a class of people and not a group. Most scholars believe that, in many instances, Ibn Khald?n uses the name Arab to mean bedouin. Other scholars, such as Mohamed Chafik, deny this.

ibn khaldun

— Bernard Lewis, The Arabs in History pp. 14-16 (1950)

Tags: While, true, Muslim, scholars, who, composed, works, Arabic, both

Share
twitter

There is no comparing the brutality and cynicism of today’s pop culture with that of forty years ago: from High Noon to Robocop is a long descent.

charles krauthammer

— International Herald Tribune, Paris, 31 October 1990, as cited in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), ed. Andrews, Columbia University Press, p. 711 : ISBN 0231071949

Tags: There, comparing, brutality, cynicism, todays, pop, culture, forty, years

Share
twitter

If ancient descent could confer nobility, the lower forms of life would possess it in a greater degree than man.

john lancaster spalding

— p. 181 (Aphorisms and Reflections (1901))

Tags: ancient, confer, nobility, lower, forms, life, possess, greater, degree

Share
twitter

In asking forgiveness of women for our mythologizing of their bodies, for being unreal about them, we can only appeal to their own sexuality, which is different but not basically different, perhaps, from our own. For women, too, there seems to be that tangle of supplication and possessiveness, that descent toward infantile undifferentiation, that omnipotent helplessness, that merger with the cosmic mother-warmth, that flushed pulse- quickened leap into overestimation, projection, general mix-up.

john updike

— “The Female Body,” Michigan Quarterly Review (1990)

Tags: asking, forgiveness, women, our, mythologizing, bodies, unreal, we, can

Share
twitter

If you know the history of the whole concept of whiteness if you know the history of the whole concept of the white race, where it came from and for what reason you know that it was a trick, and it’s worked brilliantly. You see, prior to the mid to late 1600s, in the colonies of what would become the United States, there was no such thing as the white race. Those of us of European descent did not refer to ourselves by that term really ever before then.


— Tim Wise (2008), "The Pathology of Privilege"

Tags: you, know, history, whole, concept, whiteness, white, race, what

Share
twitter

The noble Moor of Spain is anything but a pure Arab of the desert, he is half a Berber (from the Aryan family) and his veins are so full of Gothic blood that even at the present day noble inhabitants of Morocco can trace their descent back to Teutonic ancestors.

houston stewart chamberlain

— Houston Stewart Chamberlain, The Foundations of the 19th Century (1899), Adamant Media Corporation, 2005, p.398

Tags: noble, Moor, Spain, anything, pure, desert, half, Berber, Aryan

Share
twitter

The intervals of time that separate the fossils are so huge that we cannot say anything definite about their possible connection through ancestry and descent.


— Henry Gee, In Search of Deep Time—Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life (1999), p. 23.

Tags: intervals, time, separate, fossils, huge, we, anything, definite, possible

Share
twitter

The noble Moor of Spain is anything but a pure Arab of the desert, he is half a Berber (from the Aryan family) and his veins are so full of Gothic blood that even at the present day noble inhabitants of Morocco can trace their descent back to Teutonic ancestors.

houston stewart chamberlain

— Houston Stewart Chamberlain, The Foundations of the 19th Century (1899), Adamant Media Corporation, 2005, p.398

Tags: noble, Moor, Spain, anything, pure, desert, half, Berber, Aryan

Share
twitter

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.


— Bishop Henry C. Potter, address to the Washington Centennial Service in St. Paul's Chapel, New York (Apr. 30, 1889).

Tags: there, nobility, more, indispensable, ascent, character, bear, rule, high

Share
twitter

From yon blue heavens above us bent, The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent. Howe'er it be, it seems to me 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.


— Alfred Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere, Stanza 7. ("The Grand Old Gardener" in 1st Ed.).

Tags: yon, blue, heavens, above, us, bent, gardener, Adam, wife

Share
twitter

Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place."


— Anaxagoras, 6. (Book 2: Socrates, his predecessors and followers)

Tags: Anaxagoras, man, who, grieving, dying, foreign, land, Hades, place

Share
twitter

Monuments are memorials of great use in questions of descent, and in matters of family interest; decency and propriety likewise require that they should not remain in a state of ruin and decay.


— Sir William Scott, Bardin v. Calcott (1789), 1 Hagg. Con. Rep. 16.

Tags: Monuments, memorials, great, use, questions, matters, family, interest, decency

Share
twitter

O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a tyrant?


— Book I, ch. 13. (Discourses)

Tags: slavish, man, you, bear, own, brother, who, God, Father

Share
twitter

The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies. ~ John Dryden, translation of Virgil , Aeneid , vi, 126 ~


— used 15 October 2014, proposed by DanielTom

Tags: gates, hell, open, night, day, Smooth, easy, return, view

Share
twitter

Finished will be the 13th Bak'tun, The descent of Bolon Yokte will happen.


— As quoted in Maya Hieroglyphic Forum at Texas (2002)

Tags: Finished, 13th, Bolon, Yokte

Share
twitter
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • »
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Home
  • Quotes
  • descent quotes
Word Finder Scrabble® points: 10 More on Word Finder →

Follow YourDictionary

Get our free Amazon Alexa Skills!

Join YourDictionary today

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Please set a username for yourself.
People will see it as Author Name with your public flash cards.