Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Gentlemen
Oh! St. Patrick was a gentleman,
Who came of decent people.
Henry Bennett—St. Patrick was a Gentleman.
Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth come Habraham, Moyses, Aron, and the profettys; also the Kyng of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that gentilman Jhesus was borne.
Juliana Berners—Heraldic Blazonry.
Tho’ modest, on his unembarrass’d brow
Nature had written—“Gentleman.”
Byron—Don Juan. Canto IX. St. 83.
I was ne’er so thrummed since I was a gentleman.
Thomas Dekker—The Honest Whore. Pt. I. Act IV. Sc. 2.
The best of men
That e’er wore earth about him was a sufferer;
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,
The first true gentleman that ever breathed.
Thomas Dekker—The Honest Whore. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 2.
His tribe were God Almighty’s gentlemen.
Dryden—Absalom and Achitophel. Pt. I. L. 645.
A gentleman I could never make him, though I could make him a lord.
James I, to his old nurse, who begged him to make her son a gentleman.
My master hath been an honourable gentleman; tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 238.
I freely told you, all the wealth I had
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman.
Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 257.
A gentleman born, master parson; who writes himself ‘Armigero;’ in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, ‘Armigero.’
Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 9.
We are gentlemen,
That neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes
Envy the great, nor do the low despise.
Pericles. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 25.
Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There’s many a gentle person made a Jack.
Richard III. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 72.
An affable and courteous gentleman.
Taming of the Shrew. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 98.
“I am a gentleman.” I’ll be sworn thou art;
Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit,
Do give thee five-fold blazon.
Twelfth Night. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 310.
He is complete in feature, and in mind,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman.
Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 73.
You are not like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, are you?
R. B. Sheridan—The Rivals. Act IV. Sc. 2.
The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne;
For a man by nothing is so well bewrayed
As by his manners.
Spenser—Faerie Queene. Bk. VI. Canto III. St. 1.
And thus he bore without abuse
The grand old name of gentleman,
Defamed by every charlatan
And soiled with all ignoble use.
Tennyson—In Memoriam. CX. St. 6.