There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation
without some merit.
[Fr., Il y a du read more

There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation
without some merit.
[Fr., Il y a du merite sans elevation mais il n'y a point
d'elevation sans quelque merite.]

Speak little and well if you wish to be esteemed a person of merit.

Speak little and well if you wish to be esteemed a person of merit.

Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than his merit; posterity will regard the merit rather than the man.

Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than his merit; posterity will regard the merit rather than the man.

The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not
sufficient.

The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not
sufficient.

Surely, sir,
There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propped by read more

Surely, sir,
There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propped by ancestry, whose grace
Chalks successors their way, nor called upon
For high feats done to th' crown, neither allied
To eminent assistants, but spiderlike
Out of his self-drawing web, 'a gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way,
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

The more merit, the less affection

The more merit, the less affection