Aristocrats: Fellows that wear downy hats and clean shirts-guilty of education and suspected of bank accounts.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Snobs talk as if they had begotten their own ancestors.
—Herbert Agar (1897–1980) American Journalist, Historian, Poet, Critic
What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
What I call middle-class society is any society that becomes rigidified in predetermined forms, forbidding all evolution, all gains, all progress, all discovery. I call middle-class a closed society in which life has no taste, in which the air is tainted, in which ideas and men are corrupt. And I think that a man who takes a stand against this death is in a sense a revolutionary.
—Frantz Fanon (1925–61) French-Martinique Psychoanalyst, Philosopher
It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A second-class effort is a first-class mistake.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
Aristocracy: What is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
—John Ciardi (1916–86) American Poet, Teacher, Etymologist, Translator
Sophistication might be described as the ability to cope gracefully with a situation involving the presence of a formidable menace to one’s poise and prestige (such as the butler, or the man under the bed—but never the husband).
—James Thurber
Let him who expects one class of society to prosper in the highest degree, while the other is in distress, try whether one side of his face can smile while the other is pinched.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
What men prize most is a privilege, even if it be that of chief mourner at a funeral.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It’s the sure-footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life.
—Ask Ann Landers (1918–2002) American Advice Columnist
Let the others have the charisma. I’ve got the class.
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle-class morality.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Lady Hodmarsh and the duchess immediately assumed the clinging affability that persons of rank assume with their inferiors in order to show them that they are not in the least conscious of any difference in station between them.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
I weigh the man, not his title; ’tis not the king’s stamp can make the metal better.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
For the duration of its collective life, or the time during which its identity may be assumed, each class resembles a hotel or an omnibus, always full, but always of different people.
—Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist
The distinctions separating the social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
This miserable state is borne by the wretched souls of those who lived without disgrace and without praise.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Fit yourself for the best society, and then, never enter it.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
All the world over, I will back the masses against the classes.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
I simply contend that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeals to me, it is in short the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.
—Giovanni Ruffini (1807–81) Italian Writer, Patriot
People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
An intelligent class can scarce ever be, as a class, vicious, and never, as a class, indolent. The excited mental activity operates as a counterpoise to the stimulus of sense and appetite.
—Edward Everett (1794–1865) American Politician, Scholar
No state will be well administered unless the middle class holds sway.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
—Arabic Proverb
Each class of society has its own requirements; but it may be said that every class teaches the one immediately below it; and if the highest class be ignorant, uneducated, loving display, luxuriousness, and idle, the same spirit will prevail in humbler life.
—Unknown