Careful Words

degree (n.)

degree (adv.)

Virtuous and vicious every man must be,—

Few in the extreme, but all in the degree.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 231.

And in that town a dog was found,

As many dogs there be,

Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,

And curs of low degree.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.

  Unless degree is preserved, the first place is safe for no one.

Publius Syrus (42 b c): Maxim 1042.

  Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Old Testament: Psalm lxii. 9.

Alas! by some degree of woe

We every bliss must gain;

The heart can ne'er a transport know

That never feels a pain.

Lord Lyttleton (1709-1773): Song.

King Stephen was a worthy peere,

His breeches cost him but a croune;

He held them sixpence all too deere,

Therefore he call'd the taylor loune.

He was a wight of high renowne,

And those but of a low degree;

Itt's pride that putts the countrye doune,

Then take thine old cloake about thee.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): Take thy old Cloak about Thee.