MERIT QUOTES II

quotations about merit

Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Cato

Tags: Joseph Addison


It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

The Good, Great Man

Tags: Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Where merit appears, do justice to it without scruples.

GARDINER SPRING

attributed, Day's Collacon


Merit is born with men; happy those with whom it dies.

QUEEN CHRISTINA

attributed, Day's Collacon


As whole societies have come to represent themselves as giant credentialized meritocracies, rather than as systems of predatory extraction, we bustle about, trying to curry favor by pretending we actually believe it to be true.

DAVID GRAEBER

The Utopia of Rules


A person may not merit favor, as that is only the claim of man, but can never demerit charity, for that is the command of God.

STERNE

attributed, Day's Collacon


Meritocracies are clearly hierarchical, yet the notion that differences in power and status are deserved makes them more palatable, even to some who think of themselves as hostile to inequality.

DEBORAH H. GRUENFELD & LARISSA Z. TIEDENS

"Organizational Preferences and Their Consequences", Handbook of Social Psychology


Did you ever scratch the end of a piece of timber, slightly elevated, with a pin? Though scarcely heard at one end, it was distinctly heard at the other. Just so it is with any merit, excellence, or good work; it will be sooner heard of, and applauded, and rewarded on the other side of the globe, than by your immediate acquaintances.

RHODA BROUGHTON

attributed, Day's Collacon


All merit ceases the moment we perform an act for the sake of its consequences.

WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT

Letters to a Female Friend

Tags: Wilhelm von Humboldt


The art of being able to make a good use of moderate abilities wins esteem and often confers more reputation than real merit.

FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Tags: François de la Rochefoucauld


People should examine and weigh the real weight and merit of the person, and not be imposed upon by false colors and pretenses.

SAMUEL CROXALL

Fables of Aesop and Others


It is by inborn merit that a man acquires preeminence; whereas he who acts by precepts is a man of naught, swaying from this side to that, never setting down a firm, well-directed foot; he attempts much, but to little purpose.

PINDARUS

attributed, Day's Collacon


The next thing to having merit ourselves, is to take care that the meritorious profit by us; for he that rewards the deserving, makes himself one of the number.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon; or Many Things in Few Words Addressed to Those Who Think

Tags: Charles Caleb Colton


Merit hid from the public gaze has little advantage over sloth laid in the grave.

HORACE

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Horace


It is possible to indulge too great contempt for mere success, which is frequently attended with all the practical advantages of merit itself, and with several advantages that merit alone can never command.

WILLIAM BENTON CLULOW

Aphorisms and Reflections: A Miscellany of Thought and Opinion


The principle of merit is generally viewed as a neutral and fair standard whereby people may be measured against each other and it is unfair, in terms of this standard which is beneficial to society, to prefer the less qualified.

JOHAN RABE

Equality, Affirmative Action and Justice


Mere bashfulness without merit is awkward; and merit without modesty, insolent; but modest merit has a double claim to acceptance, and generally meets with as many patrons as beholders.

J. HUGHES

attributed, Day's Collacon


The best evidence of merit is a cordial recognition of it whenever and wherever found.

CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE

Intuitions and Summaries of Thought

Tags: Christian Nestell Bovee


On their own merits modest men are dumb.

GEORGE COLMAN THE YOUNGER

Epilogue, The Heir at Law


Man's concept of merit is subjective rather than objective. Despite formal education and even religious and philosophical studies, man persists in his condition of intellectual and moral confusion. He creates in and around himself a genuine intellectual and moral quagmire. Truth, much less its helper, merit, becomes foreign to his consciousness. People are content to be image seekers, not genuine thinkers, so true merit is wanting.

ABRAM ALLEN

Truity: The Essence of Truth