Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.

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.

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.

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

We should try to succeed by merit, not by favor. He who does
well will always have patrons enough.
read more

We should try to succeed by merit, not by favor. He who does
well will always have patrons enough.
[Lat., Virtute ambire oportet, non favitoribus.
Sat habet favitorum semper, qui recte facit.]

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

The more merit, the less affection

The more merit, the less affection

He merits no thanks who does a kindness for his own ends

He merits no thanks who does a kindness for his own ends