It is the rooted instinct in ...

It is the rooted instinct in men to admire what is better and more beautiful than themselves.
It is the rooted instinct in men to admire what is better and more beautiful than themselves.
 James Russell Lowell

More phrases

If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
Each man has his own vocation; his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him.
The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.

Quotes from the same author

That best academy, a mother's knee.
 James Russell Lowell
A friendship counting nearly forty years is the finest kind of shade-tree I know.
 James Russell Lowell
There is something magnificent in having a country to love.
 James Russell Lowell
A woman's love Is mighty, but a mother's heart is weak, And by its weakness overcomes.
 James Russell Lowell
The pine is the mother of legends.
 James Russell Lowell