It is the character of a man that counts, not the nobility of his descent. The
proverb is a quotation from _Lady Clara Vere de Vere_ , a poem by Alfred
Tennyson, a Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen
Victoria’s reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English
language.

> From you blue heavens above us bent,
> The gardener Adam and his wife
> Smile at the claims of long descent.
> Howe’er it be, it seems to me
> ‘Tis only noble to be good.
> Kind hearts are more than coronets,
> And simple faith than Norman blood.