Merit Quotes - Page 32

• He that writes may be considered as a kind of general challenger, whom every one has a right to attack; since he quits the common rank of life, steps forward beyond the lists, and offers his merit to the public judgement. To commence author is to claim praise, and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Men, May

  Samuel Johnson (1836). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.: D., with an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.149

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• In writing, as in life, faults are endured without disgust when they are associated with transcendent merit, and may be sometimes recommended to weak judgments by the lustre which they obtain from their union with excellence; but it is the business of those who presume to superintend the taste or morals of mankind to separate delusive combinations, and distinguish that which may be praised from that which can only be excused.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Excellence, Unions

  Samuel Johnson (1825). “The works of Samuel Johnson, with Murphy's essay, ed. by R. Lynam”, p.173

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• Jacobitism involved much more than a debate about the merits of a particular dynasty. Men and women were well aware that its success was almost certain to involved them in civil war. And the more politically educated knew that the Stuart Pretender was a pawn in a worldwide struggle for commercial and imperial primacy between Britain and France.

  Linda Colley

  War, Struggle, Men

  Linda Colley (2005). “Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837”, p.79, Yale University Press

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• There are important arguments to be made about the relative merits of an hereditary or an elected head of state: but not at the level of the human frailties of particular monarchs or presidents. No one seriously contends that the American presidency should be abolished because Bill Clinton is a self-confessed adulterer. So why should the abolition of the British monarchy be contemplated because the same is true of Prince Charles?

  David Cannadine

  Self, Important, President

  David Cannadine (1998). “History in Our Time”, Penguin Group USA

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• We certainly do not forget you as soon as you forget us. It is, perhaps, our fate rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession, pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately, and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions.

  Jane Austen

  Book, Home, Fate

  1818 Of the difference between women and men. Persuasion, ch.23.

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• Manchester United have risen to the pinnacle of the English game at a time when the rewards are so high - thanks to the ticket to the Champions League - that they have resources that only a handful of other sides, through merit or the exploitation of the people of Russia, can approach.

  Phil Cornwell

  Soccer, Football, Russia

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• Faith-healing is peculiar enough at the best of times, but applying it to football merits a special league of barking. Why would God bother to perform a miracle that enabled Sol Campbell to yell Oh holy Jesus, now I can win the ball in the air. It's been five years since I could defend from corners, brothers and sisters, it's a miracle.

  Mark Steel

  Soccer, Football, Jesus

  “Spot the balls” by Mark Steel, www.theguardian.com. February 3, 1999.

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• The Free Exercise Clause at the very least was designed to guarantee freedom of conscience by prohibiting any degree of compulsion in matters of belief. It was offended by a burden on one's religion. The Establishment Clause can be understood as designed in part to ensure that the advancement of religion comes only from the voluntary efforts of its proponents and not from support by the state. Religious groups are to prosper or perish on the intrinsic merit and attraction of their beliefs and practices.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Religious, Exercise, Practice

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• There is no superior person by constitutional standards. An applicant who is white is entitled to no advantage by reason of that fact, nor is he subject to any disability, no matter what his race or color. Whatever his race, an applicant has a constitutional right to have his application considered on its individual merits.

  William O. Douglas

  Race, Color, White

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• As for Christianity's alleged concern with truth, Christian faith is to free inquiry what the Mafia is to free enterprise. Christianity may be represented as a competitor in the realm of ideas to be considered on the basis of its merits, but this is mere disguise. Like the Mafia, if Christianity fails to defeat its competition by legitimate means (which is a forgone conclusion), it resorts to strong-arm tactics. Have faith or be damned - this biblical doctrine alone is enough to exclude Christianity from the domain of reason.

  George H. Smith

  Christian, Strong, Mean

  George H. Smith (1974). “Atheism: The Case Against God”

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• I always think that the people who have the hardest time in the spotlight are the people who have unearned fame, like the girlfriends of people who are famous or people who become figures of attention, not through their own merit.

  Rosamund Pike

  Girlfriend, Thinking, People

  Source: collider.com

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• Each project draws you in on its own merits as opposed to an intellectual choice of, "Well, I'm going to shift from vérité filmmaking to more archival."

  Liz Garbus

  Choices, Intellectual, Projects

  "Being Nina Simone". Interview with Colleen Kelsey, www.interviewmagazine.com. June 25, 2015.

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• The empirical is very important, but merit is inherent and not acquired. A university is massively important because you can see where you stand naturally in the ranks, and try yourself out, but education is just reading and understanding what you read.

  William Monahan

  Reading, Understanding, Trying

  Source: collider.com

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• We can speculate on what's likely, but what's needed is an investigation. And speculation is no substitute for facts. As a former prosecutor, I prosecuted antitrust cases civilly. And I can say that antitrust investigations merit searching, penetrating scrutiny and investigation. That's what we need here.

  Richard Blumenthal

  Needs, Facts, Substitutes

  "Justice Department Investigates Possible Collusion In U.S. Airline Industry". "All Things Considered" with Robert Siegel, www.npr.org. July 1, 2015.

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• After all, to get the whole universe totally wrong in the face of clear evidence for over 75 years merits monumental embarrassment and should induce a modicum of humility.

  Halton Arp

  Humility, Years, Faces

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• Every soul... comes into the world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its' previous life. Its' place in this world as a vessel appointed to honor or dishonor, is determined by its' previous merits or demerits. Its' work in this world determines its' place in the world which is to follow this.

  Origen

  Karma, Soul, Honor

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• The common people are but ill judges of a man's merits; they are slaves to fame, and their eyes are dazzled with the pomp of titles and large retinue. No wonder, then, that they bestow their honors on those who least deserve them.

  Horace

  Eye, Men, People

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• Ill-humor is nothing more than an inward feeling of our own want of merit, a dissatisfaction with ourselves which is always united with an envy that foolish vanity excites.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Vanity, Envy, Feelings

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• The world sees only the reflection of merit; therefore when you come to know a really great man intimately, you may as often find him above as below his reputation.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Reflection, Men, World

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Stuart Blackie (1883). “The Wisdom of Goethe”, Edinburgh, W. Blackwood

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• Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Art, Book, House

  Henry David Thoreau (2000). “Walden and Other Writings: (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.387, Modern Library

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• There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is far worse or much harder to win.

  Winston Churchill

  War, Winning, Years

  Winston Churchill (1948). “The Second World War: The Gathering storm”

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• For all the practical purposes of life, truth might as well be in a prison as in the folio of a schoolman; and those who release her from her cobwebbed shelf and teach her to live with men have the merit of liberating, if not of discovering, her.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, Purpose, Might

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.199

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• We had rather do anything than acknowledge the merit of another if we can help it. We cannot bear a superior or an equal. Hence ridicule is sure to prevail over truth, for the malice of mankind, thrown into the scale, gives the casting weight.

  William Hazlitt

  Giving, Envy, Weight

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• A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Men, Blockheads

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• A fool is one whom simpletons believe to be a man on merit.
  [Fr., Un fat celui que les sots croient un homme de merite.]

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Believe, Men, Fool

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