The touchstone distinguishes between gold and brass. [ Proverb ]

Prosperity gets followers, but adversity distinguishes them. [ Proverb ]

To err is human: but contrition felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked. [ Alfieri ]

To drink without thirst, to make love without cessation: this is what distinguishes us from the lower animals. [ Beaumarchais, Marriage of Figaro ]

What chiefly distinguishes great artists from feeble artists is first their sensibility and tenderness; secondly, their imagination; and thirdly, their industry. [ John Ruskin ]

All papas and mammas have exactly that sort of sight which distinguishes objects at a distance clearly, while they need spectacles to see those under their very noses. [ Ruffini ]

Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools. [ Steele ]

Permanence, perseverance, persistence in spite of hindrances, discouragements, and "impossibilities:" it is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak; the civilised burgher from the nomadic savage - the species Man from the genus Ape. [ Carlyle ]

The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it. But we cannot of ourselves estimate the degree of our success in what we strive for; that task is left to others. With the desire for excellence comes, therefore, the desire for approbation. And this distinguishes intellectual excellence from moral excellence; for the latter has no necessity of human tribunal; it is more inclined to shrink from the public than to invite the public to be its judge. [ Bulwer-Lytton ]