Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

Merit is much more cheaply acknowledged than rewarded

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.

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.

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

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.

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

The more merit, the less affection

The more merit, the less affection

We start with gifts. Merit comes from what we make of them.

We start with gifts. Merit comes from what we make of them.

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.