Full Idea
With all seriousness and reverence we may hope and pray for a condition of English society in which all honest citizens will recognise themselves and be recognised by each other as gentlemen.
Gist of Idea
The ideal is a society in which all citizens are ladies and gentlemen
Source
T.H. Green (works [1875]), quoted by John H. Muirhead - The Service of the State IV
Book Reference
Muirhead,John H.: 'The Service of the State: T.H. Green' [John Murray 2021], p.83
A Reaction
Call me old fashioned but, as long as we expand this to include ladies, I like this thought. Chaucer's knight (in his Prologue) should be our national role model. The true gentleman is an Aristotelian ideal.