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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.]
There is a season for man's merit as well as for fruit.
[Fr., Le merite des hommes a sa read more
There is a season for man's merit as well as for fruit.
[Fr., Le merite des hommes a sa saison aussi bien que les
fruits.]
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.
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.
View the whole scene, with critic judgment scan,
And then deny him merit if you can.
Where read more
View the whole scene, with critic judgment scan,
And then deny him merit if you can.
Where he falls short, 'tis Nature's fault alone
Where he succeeds, the merit's all his own.
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
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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.
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.
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.