He had the not very common type of mind that perceives the
merit in others more readily than their faults, and in himself the faults more readily than the
merit.
"And how, then, will you recognise
merit?" asked Dirk, red in the face with anger.
Tollmidge must have possessed one great
merit as a letter-writer--the
merit of brevity.
Neither Mr Allworthy's house, nor his heart, were shut against any part of mankind, but they were both more particularly open to men of
merit. To say the truth, this was the only house in the kingdom where you was sure to gain a dinner by deserving it.
Certainly the best works, and of greatest
merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and means, have married and endowed the public.
For their brother's sake, too, for the sake of his own heart, she rejoiced; and she reproached herself for being unjust to his
merit before, in believing him incapable of generosity.
A general confessed, in my presence, "that he got a victory purely by the force of cowardice and ill conduct;" and an admiral, "that, for want of proper intelligence, he beat the enemy, to whom he intended to betray the fleet." Three kings protested to me, "that in their whole reigns they never did once prefer any person of
merit, unless by mistake, or treachery of some minister in whom they confided; neither would they do it if they were to live again:" and they showed, with great strength of reason, "that the royal throne could not be supported without corruption, because that positive, confident, restiff temper, which virtue infused into a man, was a perpetual clog to public business."
If Europe has the
merit of discovering this great mechanical power in government, by the simple agency of which the will of the largest political body may be concentred, and its force directed to any object which the public good requires, America can claim the
merit of making the discovery the basis of unmixed and extensive republics.
That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of
merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill mannered dog."
Yet on the other hand' - he loosed his rosary -'I have acquired
merit by saving two lives - the lives of those that wronged me.
I know no one more entitled, by unpretending
merit, or better prepared by habitual suffering, to receive and enjoy felicity.
It would have been better for the legislature to have passed over the poverty of men of
merit, and only to have taken care to have ensured them sufficient leisure, when in office, to attend to public affairs.