the merit in all things consists in the difficulty.
 Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers (1844). copy citation

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Author Alexandre Dumas
Source The Three Musketeers
Topic difficulty merit
Date 1844
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1257/1257-h/1257-h.htm

Context

“«Without a thesis?» cried d'Artagnan, «without a thesis? I demand the suppression of the thesis.»
«Since then,» continued Aramis, «I have lived very agreeably. I have begun a poem in verses of one syllable. That is rather difficult, but the merit in all things consists in the difficulty. The matter is gallant. I will read you the first canto. It has four hundred lines, and lasts a minute.»
«My faith, my dear Aramis,» said d'Artagnan, who detested verses almost as much as he did Latin, «add to the merit of the difficulty that of the brevity, and you are sure that your poem will at least have two merits.»” source
Original quote

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