1. merit - Noun
2. merit - Verb
The quality or state of deserving well or ill; desert.
Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving well; worth; excellence.
Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits.
To earn by service or performance; to have a right to claim as reward; to deserve; sometimes, to deserve in a bad sense; as, to merit punishment.
To reward.
To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThose are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit. Plutarch
In point of substantial merit the law school belongs in the modern university no more than a school of fencing or dancing. Thorstein Veblen
It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other. Petrarch
Envy follows merit like the shadow follows the body. Nicaraguan Proverb
It is but a small merit to observe silence, but it is a grave fault to speak of matters on which we should be silent. Latin Proverb
If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of other people. Oriental Proverb