Johann Georg Zimmerman: Patent
on Thursday, February 24, 2022Johann Georg Zimmerman Money Quote saying nobles pretend nobility and it’s patentable. Johann Georg Zimmerman said:
“Money is oftentimes the only patent of nobility beside lofty pretensions” — Johann Georg Zimmerman
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In this quote, Johann Georg Zimmerman seems to be commenting on the relationship between wealth, social status and prestige. The best interpretation is:
- Zimmerman suggests that for many people in society, money acts as their sole badge or proof of high social standing (“patent of nobility”).
- He implies that without wealth, claims to aristocratic lineage or importance (“lofty pretensions”) are empty and lack validation.
- Zimmerman appears to believe that in reality, financial resources frequently determine one’s position in the world more than any fanciful claims of noble birth without money to back them up.
Overall, the quote conveys Zimmerman’s perspective that wealth plays a defining role in conferring status and rank for some, serving as their only tangible credential of importance beyond just boastful assertions (“pretensions”) of status that money alone substantiates according to his view. Money provides substance to social image from Zimmerman’s standpoint.
Birthday: December 8, 1728 – Death: October 7, 1795