Famous quotes containing the words merit and/or badges:
“The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world is the highest applause.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of the spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)