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Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit,
and yet does not prove that it exists.
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The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit,
and yet does not prove that it exists.
[Fr., La faveur des princes n'exclut pas le merite, et ne le
suppose pas aussi.]
He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain read more
He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers
Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.
The world more often rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.
The world more often rewards the appearances of merit than merit itself.
It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
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It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains.
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.
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.]
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
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For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?
