Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto 7

Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet,   Are things immortal to immortal man, As purple to the Babylonian harlot:   An uniform to boys is like a fan To women; there is scarce a crimson varlet   But deems himself the first in Glory’s van.

— Lord Byron on Uniform

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet,   Are things immortal to immortal man, As purple to the Babylonian harlot:   An uniform to boys is like a fan To women; there is scarce a crimson varlet   But deems himself the first in Glory’s van." in the context of "Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto 7" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Uniform" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Lord Byron

About Lord Byron

George Gordon (Noel) Byron, 6th Baron Byron (January 22 1788 – April 19 1824), generally known as Lord Byron, was an English poet and leading figure in Romanticism. He was the father of the mathematician Ada Lovelace.