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.
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The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not
sufficient.
The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not
sufficient.
The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit,
and yet does not prove that it exists.
read more
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.]
The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that
induces us to admire a fool.
read more
The same principle leads us to neglect a man of merit that
induces us to admire a fool.
[Fr., Du meme fonds dont on neglige un homme de merite l'on sait
encore admirer un sot.]
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.
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
read more
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
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.
The world rewards the appearance of merit oftener than merit
itself.
[Fr., Le monde recompense plus souvent les read more
The world rewards the appearance of merit oftener than merit
itself.
[Fr., Le monde recompense plus souvent les apparences de merite
que le merite meme.]
The more merit, the less affection
The more merit, the less affection
