Top 104 Noblesse Oblige Quotes & Sayings

Barely a week goes by without me being asked to cut a ribbon somewhere, and I'm usually happy to oblige. Things to do with the Army mostly.

I look upon it as a Point of Morality, to be obliged by those who endeavour to oblige me.

Go little book, thy self present, As child whose parent is unkent: To him that is the president Of noblesse and of chivalry, And if that Envy bark at thee, As sure it will, for succour flee.

It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so.

It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.

Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights. Noblesse oblige. 'To live as one likes is plebeian; the noble man aspires to order and law.'

It is safer to offend certain men than it is to oblige them; for as proof that they owe nothing they seek recourse in hatred.

If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.

I have been reading Madame Roland's memoirs and have come to the conclusion that she was a very over-rated woman; snobbish, vain, sentimental, envious - rather a German type. Her last days before her execution were spent in chronicling petty social snubs or triumphs of many years back. She was a democrat chiefly from envy of the noblesse.

I thought I'd stumbled on Sleeping Beauty and her ugly sister,' said another voice, 'waiting for the kiss of true love to wake them from their slumbers. Forgive me if I didn't oblige.

More faults are often committed while we are trying to oblige than while we are giving offense.

No tye can oblige the perfidious. [No tie can oblige the perfidious.]

I don't want the power. When a project is given to me, and I say yes, I'm gonna oblige everybody who has the power to try to make it work.

We are never quits with those who oblige us," was Dantes' reply; "for when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude.

Fans come up to me to talk, shake hands, hug and click photos; I usually oblige because I can see how much they admire me.

To deschool means to abolish the power of one person to oblige another.

There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.

Do not desire to fit in. Desire to oblige yourselves to lead.

A prisoner in the Inquisition is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnesses against him, but every method is taken by threats and tortures, to oblige him to accuse himself, and by that means corroborate their evidence.

To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.

Lady, right now you could tell me to throw myself under a bus to make you happy, and I’d oblige you. (Xypher)

We would like to think that when we take a shower, shampoo our hair, or apply makeup, we are doing so without inflicting harm to ourselves. Being clean and pretty should not oblige us to increase our risk of cancer.

The reason there is no noblesse oblige about Dubya is because he doesn't admit to himself or anyone else that he owes his entire life to being named George W. Bush. He didn't just get a head start by being his father's son - it remained the single most salient fact about him for most of his life.

For, quite literally, the whole world today is looking for us to take the lead in carrying out those obligations imposed on the American people as a whole by the beautiful, compassionate and courageous principle of noblesse oblige.

Man is by nature a pragmatic materialist, a mechanic, a lover of gadgets and gadgetry; and these are the qualities that characterize the "establishment" which regulates modern society: pragmatism, materialism, mechanization, and gadgetry. Woman, on the other hand, is a practical idealist, a humanitarian with a strong sense of noblesse oblige, an altruist rather than a capitalist.

According to an old French motto, Noblesse oblige - one must live up to one's name. The Rothschilds' condition of life has imposed on them a second motto: Richesse oblige - one must live up to one's fortune.

It took me months or maybe a year to understand that there are so many cheap men out there who would ask you to 'compromise' or 'oblige.'

To oblige people often costs little and helps much.

As to posterity, I may ask what has it ever done to oblige me?

Talk what you will of the Jews,--that they are cursed: they thrive wherever they come; they are able to oblige the prince of their country by lending him money; none of them beg; they keep together; and as for their being hated, why, Christians hate one another as much.

Je sais la douleur est la noblesse unique O u' ne mordront jamais la terre et les enfers. I know that pain is the one nobility upon which Hell itself cannot encroach.

If you ask the Universe to be your partner and guide you on the path to wholeness, it will oblige.

And it's really very difficult to kill someone when all your inner instincts would oblige you to take off your hat first!

My body has been making women laugh for the last 20 years and I'm happy to continue to oblige.

It is no great misfortune to oblige ungrateful people, but an unsupportable one to be forced to be under an obligation to a scoundrel.

Offend her, and she knows not to forgive; Oblige her, and she'll hate you while you live.

I had forgotten that talking to you is like trying to pet a cactus." Saiman said dryly. "Thank you for reminding me." "Always happy to oblige.

What torture, this life in society! Often someone is obliging enough to offer me a light, and in order to oblige him I have to fish a cigarette out of my pocket.

The more we oblige, the more we self-censor, the more we appease, the bolder the enemy gets.

We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.

Patriotism does not oblige us to acquiesce in the destruction of liberty. Patriotism obliges us to question it, at least.

The problem is that borrowing money to pay back more borrowed money that will oblige you in the future to borrow even more money doesn't sound kosher. Because it isn't.

Nous sommes tous oblige s, pour rendre la re alite supportable, d'entretenir en nous quelques petites folies. We must all indulge in a few follies if we are to make reality bearable.

While at Harvard, I was struck by the palpable sense of noblesse oblige that surrounds their sophisticated outreach and bursary programmes. It is almost as if they view extending opportunity to disadvantaged individuals as their highest mission.

The days of noblesse oblige are long behind us, so our elite's entire claim to legitimacy rests on theories of equal opportunity and upward mobility, and the promise that 'merit' correlates with talents and deserts.

On the evidence we have, the meritocratic ideal ends up being just as undemocratic as the old emphasis on inheritance and tradition, and it forges an elite that has an aristocracy's vices (privilege, insularity, arrogance) without the sense of duty, self-restraint and noblesse oblige that WASPs at their best displayed.

One should oblige everyone to the extent of one's ability. One often needs someone smaller than oneself.

The powers of Congress are totally inadequate to preserve the balance between the respective States, and oblige them to do those things which are essential for their own welfare or for the general good.

Je puis nier une chose sans me croire obligé de la salir ou de retirer aux autres le droit d'y croire.

This country wants to laugh. We want to, and we need to. I'm happy to oblige.

Wondering where Ranger was now, when I needed him. Why wasn’t he here, insisting on locking me up in a safe house? Now that my hamster’s cage was clean, I’d be happy to oblige.

To oblige a friend by inflicting an injury on his enemy is often more easy than to confer a benefit on the friend himself.

I am going to oblige all my TV commitments, and if films work out, I will make a graceful exit.

In law it is good policy to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you can not.

He's got a rematch clause in his contract but I'm not sure if he's going to want to exercise that rematch but if he does, I'd happily oblige. I'll go over to Canada and give him another whooping.

Noblesse oblige; or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity.

Making money doesn't oblige people to forfeit their honor or their conscience.

Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods oblige us to live through. Their reason for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass us by.

I look upon it as a Point of Morality, to be obliged by those who endeavour to oblige me

Each human being has his own sexual profile, and should exercise it without guilt - provided he does not oblige others to exercise it with him.