Character Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our merit gains us the esteem of the virtuous-our star that of the public.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We must honor our worthiness in order to receive what we want. In our society we are conditioned to believe that we are not…

— Wayne Dyer

The ancients called beauty the flowering of virtue.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world rewards the appearance of merit oftener than merit itself.

— Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld

“Life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones, until it forces us to agree that there…

— Virginia Woolf

The inspiration of a noble cause involving human interests wide and far, enables men to do things they did not dream themselves capable of…

— Joshua Chamberlain

The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids…

— Moliere

There is reason to suspect, that the distinctions of mankind have more show than value, when it is found that all agree to be…

— Samuel Johnson

Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing.

— St. Catherine of Siena

The general goodness, which is nourished in noble hearts makes every one think that strength of virtue to be in another whereof they find…

— Philip Sidney

“We can be enthused by—yes, that’s right, enthused—by the noblest of ideals, but only on condition that we don’t have to expend any effort,…

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Nature, it was claimed, rewarded merit with wealth while penalising indolence.”

— Yuval Noah Harari