Meritocracy Quotes

• An egalitarian educational system is necessarily opposed to meritocracy and reward for achievement. It is inevitably opposed to procedures that might reveal differing levels of achievement.

  Robert Bork

  Educational, Egalitarianism, Achievement

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• The world is not a meritocracy, as much as we may like to pretend that it is. And we have a long way to go before we really reward people based on their own merit.

  Malcolm Gladwell

  Long, People, World

  "Book World Live: Malcolm Gladwell, author of 'Outliers'". Online discuss, www.washingtonpost.com. November 18, 2008.

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• Meritocracy is a good thing. Whenever possibly, people should be judged based on their work and results, not superficial qualities.

  Eric Ries

  People, Quality, Superficial

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• A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate - these are the folks who reap the largest rewards.

  Ben Bernanke

  Encouragement, Educational, Opportunity

  "The Anniversary: Why Bull Durham Is the Greatest Sports Movie Ever Made" by Stephen Marche, www.esquire.com. June 14, 2013.

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• Enforcing equality to compensate for the monstrous unfairness of nature destroys liberty.
  But total liberty leads to various forms of "aristocracy" and decay.
  Yet total equality leads to oppressive statism and decay.
  However, equality of opportunity leads to a vibrantly chaotic and creative meritocracy.

  Peter J. Carroll

  Opportunity, Creative, Liberty

  "Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick: Revised Edition". Book by Peter J. Carroll, 1995.

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• Meritocracy is our social ideal, particularly among good liberals. Equality of opportunity, but not of outcome. Not evaluating people by their [outside] features, but by their innate talent and drive.

  Chris Hayes

  Opportunity, People, Outcomes

  "The age of illusion". Interview with Jake Blumgart, www.salon.com. June 30, 2012.

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• A lot of people think big business in America is a bad thing. I think it's a really good thing. Most people in business are ethical, hard-working, good people. And it's a meritocracy.

  Steve Jobs

  Business, Hard Work, Thinking

  "Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing". Interview with Gary Wolf, www.wired.com. February 1, 1996.

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• Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies, and kin to scramble up. In other words: 'Who says meritocracy says oligarchy.'

  Chris Hayes

  Oligarchy, Able, Way

  Chris Hayes (2012). “Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy”, p.57, Crown

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• Meritocracy has nothing to do with who gets in. It's more who you are and where you come from and where you are employed.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Where You Come, Where You Are, Employed

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• We believe that there is no greater power in the world than the force of a great idea. We believe that people are the lifeblood of every organization. We believe that the best companies are true meritocracies, where people rise and fall through their own contributions, not through game playing or politics. We believe that work isn't simply a paycheck; it is the ultimate expression of a fully realized self. We believe that a company's obligations extend far beyond its bottom line and its shareholders - to a wider constituency that includes employees, customers, suppliers, and the community.

  John A. Byrne

  Business, Believe, Fall

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• You know, I believe that technology is the great leveler. Technology permits anybody to play. And in some ways, I think technology - it's not only a great tool for democratization, but it's a great tool for eliminating prejudice and advancing meritocracies.

  Carly Fiorina

  Believe, Technology, Thinking

  "Interview With Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina: 'The Nation With The Best Brain Power Wins'". Interview with Erick Schonfeld, techcrunch.com. January 31, 2010.

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• America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure.

  Toby Young

  Thinking, America, People

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• The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what has happened. The teachers can't teach and administrators run the place and nobody can be fired. It's terrible.

  Steve Jobs

  Running, Teacher, Unions

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• For me white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one's life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.

  Peggy McIntosh

  Country, Giving Up, Doors

  "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack". Peggy McIntosh, Peace and Freedom Magazine (by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), July/August 1989.

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• Scientific culture created a framework within which individual mobility was possible without threatening hierarchical work-force allocation. On the contrary, meritocracy reinforced hierarchy. Finally, meritocracy as an operation and scientific culture as an ideology created veils that hindered perception of the underlying operations of historical capitalism.

  Immanuel Wallerstein

  Historical, Perception, Culture

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• This argument has been codified in the twentieth century as meritocracy, in which those on top in the process of capitalist accumulation have merited their position.

  Immanuel Wallerstein

  Argument, Century, Process

  Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (1995). “Capistalist Civilisation”, p.154, Verso

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• What is different in capitalist civilization has been two things. First, the process of meritocracy has been proclaimed as an official virtue instead of being merely a de facto reality. The culture has been different. And secondly, the percentage of the world's population for whom such ascent was possible has gone up. But even though it has grown up, meritocratic ascent remains very much the attribute of a minority.

  Immanuel Wallerstein

  Reality, Two, Civilization

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• Once you experience being loved when you are unworthy, being forgiven when you did something wrong, that moves you into non-dual thinking. You move from what I call meritocracy, quid pro quo thinking, to the huge ocean of grace, where you stop counting or calculating.

  Richard Rohr

  Ocean, Moving, Thinking

  Source: ryanthomasneace.com

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• Radical transparency is critical to having an idea meritocracy because it shows what's actually happening without spin and prevents people from maneuvering politically behind each others' backs. It brings problems and weaknesses to the surface and allows people to see how they are dealt with, so it's great for training people on how to deal with real problems.

  Ray Dalio

  Real, Ideas, People

  "Ray Dalio, head of the world's largest hedge fund, explains his succession plan for Bridgewater and how its 'radically transparent' culture is misunderstood". Interview with Richard Feloni, www.businessinsider.com. March 21, 2016.

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• Comedy is a meritocracy. If you are funny, you are there. If you are not, you are out.

  Kevin Feige

  Comedy, Ifs

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Chess is a meritocracy.

  Lawrence Day

  Chess

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• I loved working on Wall Street. I loved the meritocracy of it and the camaraderie of the trading floor.

  Chelsea Clinton

  Wall, Trading Floor, Camaraderie

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• It seems to me that obliviousness about white advantage, like obliviousness about male advantage, is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all. Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already.

  Peggy McIntosh

  Small Numbers, Hands, White Privilege

  "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies". 1988.

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• All companies can benefit from fostering a more flexible environment (creating a place where the most talented, industrious, and entrepreneurial people want to work) and relinquishing hierarchical control to favor a results-oriented meritocracy.

  Maynard Webb

  Creating, People, Benefits

  "Meritocracy: Overcoming the Fear Factor" by Maynard Webb, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 24, 2010.

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• One of the best things about being an actor is that it's a meritocracy.

  Benedict Cumberbatch

  Actors, Best Things

  "Working-class talent being priced out of acting, says David Morrissey" by John Plunkett, www.theguardian.com. September 15, 2014.

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