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.

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.

There's a proud modesty in merit; averse from asking, and resolved to pay ten times the gifts it asks.

There's a proud modesty in merit; averse from asking, and resolved to pay ten times the gifts it asks.

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.

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.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

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.]