• Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes; Antiquity and birth are needless here; 'Tis impudence and money makes a peer.

    Daniel Defoe: Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes; Antiquity and birth are needless here; 'Tis impudence and money makes a peer.
    Daniel Defoe (1855). “The Novels and Miscellaneous Works of Daniel De Foe”, p.443