How vain, without the merit, is the name.

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

— William Hazlitt

Vain men delight in telling what Honours have been done them, what great Company they have kept, and the like; by which they plainly…

— Jonathan Swift

When we are conscious of the least comparative merit in ourselves, we should take as much care to conceal the value we set upon…

— Colley Cibber

He makes his cook his merit, and the world visits his dinners and not him.

— Moliere

Before I met Ayn Rand, I was a logical positivist, and accordingly, I didn't believe in absolutes, moral or otherwise. If I couldn't prove…

— Alan Greenspan

I know well, Monsieur, how much you have to endure in your present duty, and I ask Our Lord to strengthen you in your…

— Vincent de Paul

There is no discussion inside this boardroom to say we've got to get into this or that. We look at every growth opportunity on…

— James Packer

Misfortune is the test of a person's merit.

— Seneca the Younger

Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."... "We must treat each man on…

— Theodore Roosevelt

Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property, of…

— Thomas Carlyle

I could give you some names of Workshop participants who are as good as many who are being published but haven't had the right…

— James Gunn

Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.

— Mason Cooley

Use every man according to his desert and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity, the less they deserve…

— William Shakespeare

The Iranian people have a proud past. They merit a great future.

— Condoleezza Rice