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About this quote

What does it mean?
It is better to earn honor without receiving it than to receive honor without earning it.
In plain terms
Earn respect instead of just seeking it.
What can you take from it?
Focus on genuine merit.

Where it applies

  • career advancement
  • public recognition

Putting it to work

  • work diligently
  • maintain standards

Questions to consider

  • Do you value recognition over merit?
  • How do you measure personal success?

Another view

Sometimes recognition is necessary for influence.

More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens

  1. I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly

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  2. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

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  3. I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

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