" Their credo was the exact opposite of the idea prevailing in the more newly minted United States, that there was a peculiar extra virtue in being lowly born, that only the self-made carried the badge of ability and that men of easy circumstances were more likely than not to be stupid or wicked, if not both. "

― Barbara W. Tuchman , The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914