What is merit?

Famous quotes containing the word merit:

“Give nobly to indigent merit, and do not refuse your charity even to those who have not merit but their misery.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)

“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 (1844–1900)

“Sentimentalists ... adopt whatever merit is in good repute, and almost make it hateful with their praise. The warmer their expressions, the colder we feel.... Cure the drunkard, heal the insane, mollify the homicide, civilize the Pawnee, but what lessons can be devised for the debauchee of sentiment?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)