Pope Pius II Quotes

I was no Marie Antoinette. I was not born to nobility, but I had a human right to nobility.

Upper class to me means you are either born into wealth or you're Royalty.

A court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.

Kings need the company of the intelligent far more than the intelligent need the company of kings.

The Inca honored the men of the blood royal by permitting them to bore their ears where women do today, but with larger holes … and this was the sign of nobility and royal caste ...

Learning is good in and of itself...the mothers of the Jewish ghettoes of the east would pour honey on a book so the children would know that learning is sweet. And the parents who settled hungry Kansas would take their children in from the fields when a teacher came.

I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King's son.

Today nobility is gone: there is only a peerage.

People are fascinated by the rich: Shakespeare wrote plays about kings, not beggars.

To-day kings, to-marrow beggars, it is only when they are themselves that they are nothing.

What did it mean to be called “lord”? I’ll assume you’ve never had the honor, since I doubt any of you happen to be British royalty. (And, if by chance you are, then let me say, “Hello, Your Majesty! Welcome to my stupid book. Can I borrow some cash?”)

Fame confers a rank above that of gentleman and of kings. As soon as she issues her patent of nobility, it matters not a straw whether the recipient be the son of a Bourbon or of a tallow-chandler.

It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.

Am I not sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, as kind as I'm handsome and heir to a throne?

An aristocracy is the true support of a monarchy.

To live a single day and hear a good teaching is better than to live a hundred years without knowing such teaching.

The king can drink the best of wine -So can I;And has enough when he would dine -So have I;And can not order rain or shine -Nor can I.Then where's the difference - let me see -Betwixt my lord the king and me?

Order is Heaven's first law; and this confessed, some are, and must be, greater than the rest, more rich, more wise; but who infers from hence that such are happier, shocks all common sense. Condition, circumstance, is not the thing; bliss is the same in subject or in king.

I turned down a knighthood. It would be like having to wear a suit every day of your life.

Why are we never quite at ease in the presence of a schoolmaster? Because we are conscious that he is not quite at his ease in ours. He is awkward, and out of place in the society of his equals. He comes like Gulliver from among his little people, and he cannot fit the stature of his understanding to yours.

A man is a man, on a throne or in a pigsty.

A beggar's book outworths a noble's blood.

The noblest lord is ushered in By the practicing physician, And the humblest lout is ushered out By a certified mortician. And in between, they find their foyers Alive with summonses from lawyers.

Lords are lordliest in their wine.

Kelsier smiled. 'It means that you, Vin, are a very special person. You have a power that most high noblemen envy. It is a power that, had you been born an aristocrat, would have made you one of the most deadly and influential people in all of the final empire.' Kelsier leaned forward again. 'But, you weren't born an aristocrat. You're not noble, Vin. You don't have to play by their rules--and that makes you even more powerful.