“Who shall go about to cozen fortune, and be honourable without the stamp of merit! Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity. O, that estates, degrees, and offices, were not deriv’d corruptly! and that clear honour were purchas’d by the merit of the wearer! How many then should cover that stand bare! How many be commanded that command! How much low peasantry would then be glean’d from the true seed of honour! and how much honour pick’d from the chaff and ruin of the times, to be new varnish’d!” – William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice 2.9