My father was an eminent button maker — but I had a soul above…

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sylvester Daggerwood (1795), act I, sc. x.

English (original)

My father was an eminent button maker — but I had a soul above buttons — I panted for a liberal profession.

— George Colman the Younger

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

Oh, London is a fine town, A very famous city, Where all the streets are paved with gold, And all the maidens pretty.

Lord help you! Tell ’em Queen Anne's dead.

Not to be sneezed at.

Praise the bridge that carried you over.

But when ill indeed, E'en dismissing the doctor don't always succeed.