Great families of yesterday we show, And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Defoe critiques the arbitrary nature of nobility, noting that today's lords often come from obscure origins.
- In plain terms
- Many powerful people today have parents nobody knows.
- What can you take from it?
- Status often shifts regardless of family history.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does birth matter for leadership?
- How is status earned?
Another view
The line simplifies complex social structures for wit.
More from Daniel Defoe
Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes Lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes; Antiquity and birth are needless here; 'Tis impudence and money makes a peer.
Permalink to quote #10 In their religion they are so uneven, That each man goes his own byway to heaven.
Permalink to quote #12 The royal refugee our breed restores With foreign courtiers and with foreign whores, And carefully repeopled us again, Throughout his lazy, long, lascivious re…
Permalink to quote #9
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