“ I hate people who claim to be great aristocrats when they can't even keep up the appearances of it. ”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned (1922). copy citation
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
|---|---|
| Source | The Beautiful and Damned |
| Topic | appearance hate |
| Date | 1922 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9830/9830-h/9830-h.htm |
Context
“He turned his bloodshot eyes on her reproachfully—eyes that had once been a deep, clear blue, that were weak now, strained, and half-ruined from reading when he was drunk.
"Why do you say such awful things?" she protested. You talk as if you and Gloria were in the middle classes."
"Why pretend we're not? I hate people who claim to be great aristocrats when they can't even keep up the appearances of it."
"Do you think a person has to have money to be aristocratic?"
Muriel ... the horrified democrat ...!
"Why, of course. Aristocracy's only an admission that certain traits which we call fine—courage and honor and beauty and all that sort of thing—can best be developed in a favorable environment, where you don't have the warpings of ignorance and necessity."”
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