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.

The more merit, the less affection

The more merit, the less affection

If you wish in this world to advance your merits you're bound to enhance; you must stir it and stump read more

If you wish in this world to advance your merits you're bound to enhance; you must stir it and stump it, and blow your own trumpet, or, trust me, you haven't a chance.

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

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

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

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.

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.

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.]

Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than his merit; posterity will regard the merit rather than the man.

Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than his merit; posterity will regard the merit rather than the man.