Those who do not know how to live must make a merit of dying.

- George Bernard Shaw

Ask any soldier. To kill a man is to merit a woman.

- Jean Giraudoux

The merit of 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,' then - or its offence, depending where you stood - was not that it was authentic, but that it was credible.

- John le Carre

I do think that books are invaluable as a reservoir of what we call the human space. And this is why I think that, even if they're threatened, the work that they do has an incalculable merit.

- Junot Diaz

A man of merit owes himself to the homage of the rest of mankind who recognize his worth.

- Jules Verne

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

- Joseph Addison

Those who do not read criticism will rarely merit to be criticised.

- Isaac D'Israeli

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.

- Horace

How vain, without the merit, is the name.

- Homer

It's hard to judge literary merit.

- Henry Rollins

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

- Alexander Pope

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.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.

- Frank Ocean

The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.

- Francis Quarles

I judge people based on their capability, honesty, and merit.

- Donald Trump

If you are cast in a different mould to the majority, it is no merit of yours: Nature did it.

- Charlotte Bronte

Merit, however inconsiderable, should be sought for and rewarded. Methods are the master of masters.

- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Contemporaries appreciate the person rather than their merit, posterity will regard the merit rather than the person.

- Charles Caleb Colton

Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.

- Benjamin Disraeli

I've learned to think, I may succeed or fail, but I'm going to do so on the merit of my own instincts.

- Ben Affleck