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.

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.

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.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

By merit raised
To that bad eminence.

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.

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.

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.

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.]

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.