Merit Quotes - Page 33

• Carelessness is inexcusable, and merits the inevitable sequence.

  James Anthony Froude

  Inevitable, Sequence, Carelessness

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• Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes that she may lower another by defeat.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Envy, Victory, Spy

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.436

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• That politeness which we put on, in order to keep the assuming and the presumptuous at a proper distance will generally succeed. But it sometimes happens that these obtrusive characters are on such excellent terms with themselves that they put down this very politeness to the score of their own great merits and high pretensions, meeting the coldness of our reserve with a ridiculous condescension of familiarity, in order to set us at ease with ourselves.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Distance, Character, Order

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”, p.79

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• In the founders of great families, titles or attributes of honor are generally correspondent with the virtues of the person to whom they are applied; but in their descendants they are too often the marks rather of grandeur than of merit. The stamp and denomination still continue, but the intrinsic value is frequently lost.

  Joseph Addison

  Honor, Titles, Ancestry

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1819). “The Spectator”, p.21

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• Why will any man be so impertinently officious as to tell me all prospect of a future state is only fancy and delusion? Is there any merit in being the messenger of ill news. If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and better man.

  Joseph Addison

  Dream, Future, Men

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator”, p.463

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• Must one rash word, the infirmity of age, throw down the merit of my better years?

  Joseph Addison

  Years, Age, Infirmity

  Joseph Addison, Henry George Bohn, Richard Hurd (1856). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison: Poems on several occasions. Poemata. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals, especially in relation to the Latin and Greek poets. Remarks on several parts of Italy, in the years 1701, 1702, 1703”, p.197

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• Make a habit of telling the truth, or make a habit of lying: to decide each case on its own merits is exhausting, and hardly ever worth it.

  Mignon McLaughlin

  Lying, Telling The Truth, Habit

  Mignon McLaughlin (2014). “Aperçus: The Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin”, p.55, BookBaby

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• I have sometimes thought that people are, in a sort, happy, that nothing can put out of countenance with themselves, though they neither have nor merit other people's.

  William Penn

  People, Sometimes, Countenance

  William Penn (1782). “The Select Works of William Penn: In Five Volumes. ...”, p.192

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• The vain man makes a merit of misfortune, and triumphs in his disgrace.

  William Hazlitt

  Men, Vanity, Triumph

  William Hazlitt (1871). “The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt”, p.473

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• Honourable mention encourages science, and merit is fostered by praise.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Praise

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• It is but a small merit to observe silence, but it is a grave fault to speak of matters on which we should be silent.

  Ovid

  Silence, Matter, Faults

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• When emulation leads us to strive for self-elevation by merit alone, and not by belittling another, then it is one of the grandest possible incentives to action.

  Samuel Johnson

  Self, Incentives, Emulation

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• The process could be likened to relaxing on a riverbank and watching a fish leap out of the water, sparkle for a moment in the sunlight, then dive back in a graceful arc. There is no need to engage in a mental dialogue about the merits and demerits of the fish, emotionally react to the fish, or jump into the water to try to catch the fish. Once the fish is out of sight, it should also be out of mind.

  Bill Vaughan

  Sight, Water, Meditation

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• Though we may sometimes unintentionally bestow our beneficence on the unworthy, it does not take from the merit of the act. For charity doth not adopt the vices of its objects.

  Henry Fielding

  Vices, Doe, Charity

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• There should be, methinks, as little merit in loving a woman for her beauty as in loving a man for his prosperity; both being equally subject to change.

  Alexander Pope

  Beauty, Men, Littles

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Chalmers (1807). “A Supplementary Volume to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Containing Pieces of Poetry, Not Inserted in Warburton's and Warton's Editions : and a Collection of Letters, Now First Published”, p.125

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• Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted into the bargain. True glory, on the other hand, resembles a woman of sense; her admirers must play no tricks. They feel no great anxiety, for they are sure in the end of being rewarded in proportion to their merit.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hands, Play, Perfect

  Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield”, p.193

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• It has been remarked that almost every character which has excited either attention or pity has owed part of its success to merit, and part to a happy concurrence of circumstances in its favor. Had Caesar or Cromwell exchanged countries, the one might have been a sergeant and the other an exciseman.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Character, Favors

  Oliver Goldsmith (1819). “Essays and poems, by Dr. Oliver Goldsmith. To which are prefixed, memoirs of the author”, p.3

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• Titles and mottoes to books are like escutcheons and dignities in the hands of a king. The wise sometimes condescend to accept of them; but none but a fool would imagine them of any real importance. We ought to depend upon intrinsic merit, and not the slender helps of the title.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Wise, Kings, Real

  Oliver Goldsmith (1820). “Essays and The Bee”

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• When we are conscious of the least comparative merit in ourselves, we should take as much care to conceal the value we set upon it, as if it were a real defect; to be elated or vain upon it is showing your money before people in want.

  Colley Cibber

  Real, Vanity, People

  Colley Cibber (1830). “An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian”, p.27

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• These are the signs of a wise man: to reprove nobody, to praise nobody, to blame nobody, nor even to speak of himself or his own merits.

  Epictetus

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

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• Civil wars are the greatest of evils. They are inevitable, if we wish to reward merit, for all will say that they are meritorious.

  Blaise Pascal

  War, Evil, Wish

  Blaise Pascal, Henry Rogers, Victor Cousin, Charles Louandre (1859). “The Thoughts, Letters and Opuscules of Blaise Pascal”, p.203

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• In giving of thy alms, inquire not so much into the person, as his necessity. God looks not so much upon the merits of him that requires, as into the manner of him that relieves; if the man deserve not, thou hast given it to humanity.

  Francis Quarles

  Men, Giving, Humanity

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• Think not thy love to God merits God's love to thee; His acceptance of thy duty crowns His own gifts in thee; man's love to God is nothing but a faint reflection of God's love to man.

  Francis Quarles

  God, Acceptance, Reflection

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.77

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• I do not hesitate to say that the road to eminence and power, from an obscure condition, ought not to be made too easy, nor a thing too much of course. If rare merit be the rarest of all things, it ought to pass through some sort of probation. The temple of honor ought to be seated on an eminence. If it be open through virtue, let it be remembered, too, that virtue is never tried but by some difficulty and some struggle.

  Edmund Burke

  Struggle, Greatness, Honor

  Edmund Burke (1790). “Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the proceedings in certain societies in London, relative to that event. In a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Paris ... The seventh edition”, p.74

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• First loves are not necessarily more foolish than others; but the chances are certainly against them. Proximity of time or place, a variety of accidental circumstances more than the essential merits of the object, often produce what is called first love.

  Maria Edgeworth

  First Love, Firsts, Essentials

  Maria Edgeworth, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1824). “Works”, p.216

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