Merit Quotes - Page 11

• Horsemanship is the one art for which it seems one needs only practice. However, practice without true principles is nothing other than routine, the fruit of which is a strained and unsure execution, a false diamond which dazzles semi-connoisseurs often more impressed by the accomplishments of the horse than the merit of the horseman.

  Francois Robichon de La Gueriniere

  Art, Horse, Practice

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• High-class kitsch may well be "perfect" in its form and and composition: the academic painters were often masters of their craft. Thus, the accusation that a work of kitsch is based not on lack of for or aesthetic merit but on the presence of a particularly provocative emotional content. (The best art, by contrast, eschews emotional content altogether.)

  Robert C. Solomon

  Art, Emotional, Class

  Robert C. Solomon (1970). “Entertaining Ideas: Popular Philosophical Essays, 1970-1990”

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• It may be remarked in passing that success is an ugly thing. Men are deceived by its false resemblences to merit.

  Victor Hugo

  Men, Ugly Things, May

  Victor Hugo (1980). “Les misérables”, Viking Pr

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• Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great. To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. There's equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked.

  Paul Arden

  Nice, Sacrifice, Order

  "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be". Book by Paul Arden, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 1, 2003.

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• Success and social promotion are not some right that anybody can claim after queuing at some [government office]. It is better: it is a right, a right that one can merit because of one's sweat.

  Nicolas Sarkozy

  Government, Sweat, Office

  Summer meeting of the Young Populars in La Baule, September 04, 2005.

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• Don't try to impress God with your works" or "Don't attempt to please God with your merits" or "Don't try to keep the rules and regulations in order to earn your salvation." He looked around at nearly slumbering collections of utterly casual Christians and wondered, "Who's trying?

  Martin E. Marty

  Christian, Order, Trying

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• I don't have an extraordinary degree of self-confidence, but I know the gift I have been given from God and I try to share it with as many people as possible. Having a great voice is not a merit. I don't think it is a merit.

  Andrea Bocelli

  Self Confidence, Thinking, Voice

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• Good intentions do not guarantee good results. Somehow Andrew Keates turns works of merit into evenings of entertainment. Don't call him a dramaturge, call him an alchemist.

  Paul Gambaccini

  Alchemist, Guarantees, Evening

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• The legendary statistical consultant W. Edwards Deming, . . . has called the system by which merit is appraised and rewarded 'the most powerful inhibitor to quality and productivity in the Western world' . . . it is simply unfair to the extent that employees are held responsible for what are, in reality, systemic factors that are beyond their control.

  Alfie Kohn

  Powerful, Reality, Quality

  Alfie Kohn (1999). “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes”, p.145, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• It is better not to make merit a matter of reward Lest people conspire and contend.

  Laozi

  People, Rewards, Matter

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• Let us make of our homes sanctuaries of righteousness, places of prayer, and abodes of love, that we might merit the blessings that can come only from our Heavenly Father.

  Thomas S. Monson

  Prayer, Father, Home

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• ...book-buyers aren't attracted, by and large, by the literary merits of a novel: book-buyers want a good story...something that will first fascinate them, then pull them in and keep them turning the pages.

  Stephen King

  Book, Literary Merit, Stories

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• Immediately after 11 September, the U.S. closed down the Somali charitable network Al-Barakaat on grounds that it was financing terror. This achievement was hailed one of the great successes of the 'war on terror.' In contrast, Washington's withdrawal of its charges as without merit a year later aroused little notice.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Years, Achievement

  "How the Magna Carta became a Minor Carta, part 2" by Noam Chomsky, www.theguardian.com. July 25, 2012.

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• Do not miss the opportunity of offering even a single drop into the ocean of merit or a grain atop the mountain of the roots of beneficial activity.

  Dogen

  Ocean, Opportunity, Roots

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• The uncouth hordes of common men are not fit to recognize duly the merits of those who eclipse their own wretchedness.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Men, Common, Fit

  Ludwig Von Mises (1962). “The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method”

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• Let every nation, right now, do what is best for all citizens of the world: eliminate every form of intervention that would prevent or otherwise hobble mutually beneficial trade between any two parties anywhere in the world. No bureaucracy can help us toward that goal; it must come from a growing realization of the merit of freedom itself.

  Llewellyn Rockwell

  Party, Two, Goal

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• You will see in this my notion of good works, that I am far from expecting to merit heaven by them. By heaven we understand a state of happiness, infinite in degree, and eternal in duration. I can do nothing to deserve such rewards... Even the mixed imperfect pleasures we enjoy in this world, are rather from God's goodness than our merit, how much more such happiness of heaven!

  Benjamin Franklin

  Heaven, Degrees, World

  Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the life and writings of Benjamin Franklin ...”, p.2, Printed for H. Colborn

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• The books of jurisprudence were interesting to few, and entertaining to none: their value was connected with present use, and they sunk forever as soon as that use was superseded by the innovations of fashion, superior merit, or public authority.

  Edward Gibbon

  Fashion, Book, Interesting

  Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812”, p.1116, Modern Library

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• The central principle of investment is to go contrary to the general opinion, on the grounds that if everyone agreed about its merits, the investment is inevitably too dear and therefore unattractive.

  John Maynard Keynes

  Principles, Unattractive, Opinion

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• If you want the best results in an organization, you must rely solely on merit.

  James Cook

  Organization, Want, Results

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• There is no test of literary merit except survival, which is itself an index to majority opinion.

  George Orwell

  Literary Merit, Survival, Majority

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.320, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• We are saved by grace, through faith in Christ alone! And since there is no room for human merit there can be no grounds for human boasting!

  Steve Camp

  Grace, Rooms, Christ

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• Government employees move up the ladder through educational credentials rather than merit. People are given jobs and promotions based on seniority, race and gender rather than ability or talent. Such a system often overlooks the deserving and rewards the incompetent. There is no payoff for achievement.

  James Cook

  Jobs, Educational, Moving

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• The left controls the media, the institutions of higher learning and the government. They preach against business, disparate merit, decry free enterprise and slander capitalism.

  James Cook

  Government, Media, Institutions

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• We are ever aware that politics is an ugly struggle that determines 'who gets what, when, and how.' It is the favorite occupation of people who serve special interests, who have axes to grind, and public careers to advance. It is a game in which benefits are bestowed according to political skill and connection, rather than merit.

  Hans F. Sennholz

  Struggle, Axes, Games

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