Nobility Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old nobility quotes, nobility sayings, and nobility proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self. Ernest Hemingway
Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference. Albert Camus
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge. William Shakespeare
Nobility of spirit has more to do with simplicity than ostentation, wisdom rather than wealth, commitment rather than ambition. Riccardo Muti
The nobility of a human being is strictly independent of that of his convictions. Jean Rostand
Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath. Solon
It matters not from what stock we are descended so long as we have virtue; for that alone is true Nobility. Wellins Calcott
Noble persons have the best capacities; for whether they give themselves to goodness or ungraciousness, they do in either excel, as none of the common sort of people can come anything nigh them. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Nobility is kept alive and strong when it is attached to wealth, and without money it is like a dead thing, for those who are in need have often to turn their hands to vile things. Martin De Viciana
Nobility without virtue is a fine setting without a gem. Jane Porter
Nobility is a river that sets with a constant and undeviating current, directly into the great Pacific Ocean of Time; but, unlike all other rivers, it is more grand at its source, than at its termination. Charles Caleb Colton
A degenerate nobleman, or one that is proud of his birth, is like a turnip: there is nothing good of him but that which is underground. Samuel Butler
If a man be endowed with a generous mind, this is the best kind of nobility. Plato
Nobility of birth does not always insure a corresponding unity of mind; if it did, it would always act as a stimulus to noble actions; but it sometimes acts as a clog rather than a spur. Charles Caleb Colton
The essence of true nobility is neglect of self. James A. Froude
Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions characterize the great. Carlo Goldoni
New nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time. Francis Bacon
To do good is noble. To tell others to do good is even nobler and much less trouble. Mark Twain
The warrior's nobility is like a prostitute's smile, the truth of which is self-interest. Georges Bataille
Even in adversity, nobility shines through, when a man endures repeated and severe misfortune with patience, not owing to insensibility but from generosity and greatness of soul. Aristotle
Nobility is expensive, nonproductive, and parasitic, siphoning away too much of society’s energy to satisfy its frivolous cravings. Alan Weisman
True nobility is exempt from fear. Marcus Tullius Cicero
Base men being in love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them. William Shakespeare
My nobility begins in me, but yours ends in you. Iphicrates
Idleness is an appendix to nobility. Robert Burton
What is madness but nobility of soul. At odds with circumstance? Theodore Roethke
I believe that love is better than hate. And that there is more nobility in building a chicken coop than in destroying a cathedral. Betty Greene
If ancient descent could confer nobility, the lower forms of life would possess it in a greater degree than man. John Lancaster Spalding
To men and women there falls the task of exploring truth with their reason, and in this their nobility consists. Pope John Paul II
As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness. James Russell Lowell