merit Quotes

They should rule who are able to rule best.

True respect comes from earning honors, not just having them.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

The best way to avoid envy is to deserve the success you get.

And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the more he deserves, and he that is best deserves most. Therefore the truly great-souled man must be a... ...

All men agree that a just distribution must be according to merit in some sense; they do not all specify the same sort of merit, but democrats identify it with freemen, supporters of oligarchy with wealth (or noble birth), and... ...

Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.