Merit quotes
374 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
"Not only the adoration of images is idolatry, but also trust in one's own righteousness, works and merits, and putting confidence in riches and power. As the latter is the commonest, so it also is the most noxious."
"Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive."
"The merit of the cross does not consist in its heaviness, but in the manner in which we carry it. I would even say that it is sometimes more virtuous to carry a cross of straw than a heavy cross because we have to be more attentive for fear of losing it."
"I no longer count as one of my merits that I always tell the truth as much as possible; it has become my metier."
"Holiness is not a merit by which we can attain communion with God, but a gift of Christ, which enables us to cling to him, and to follow him."
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"Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent."
"You have been given your own work to do. Get to it right now, do your best at it, and don't be concerned with who is watching you. Create your own merit."
"I love those who do not know how to live for today."
"Don't be concerned who is watching you. The triumphs and merits of others belong to them - as do yours to you. Make the most of what you've got."
"What comes into the world to disturb nothing merits neither attention nor patience"
"Nowhere is woman treated according to the merit of her work, but rather as a sex. It is therefore almost inevitable that she should pay for her right to exist, to keep a position in whatever line, with sex favors. Thus it is merely a question of degree whether she sells herself to one man, in or out of marriage, or to many men!... The economic and social inferiority of woman is responsible for prostitution."
"Verbal representations of such places or scenes may, or may not, have the merit of accuracy; but photographic presentments of them will be accepted by posterity with an undoubting faith."
"Our impartiality is kept for abstract merit and demerit, which none of us ever saw."
"Do not look only at yourself, and you will see much. Do not justify yourself, and you will be distinguished. Do not brag, and you will have merit. Do not be prideful, and your work will endure."
"It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united."
"The merit of all things lies in their difficulty."
"A genial and cultured Arab, Ameen Rihani, whose English is perfect and whose eloquence is astounding. He will discuss with equal eagerness and knowledge the merits of Picasso or Van Gogh, or the Zionist question, or the British achievements in Arabia."
"Pure Christian love is not derived from the merit of the object."
"A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves with single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them."
"We start with gifts. Merit comes from what we make of them."
"The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard."
"It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other."
"Thus you may understand that love alone is the true seed of every merit in you, and of all acts for which you must atone."
"A beautiful soul has no other merit than its own existence."
"Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable."
