Reputation is [...] oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And every author's merit, but his own.
His teacher gave him ten merits.
those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth
Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought / For things that others do; and when we fall, / We answer others' merits in our name.
Her performance merited its wild applause.
Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.