Rank without merit earns deference without respect.

[L’importance sans mérite obtient des égards sans estime.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)

Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 60 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Being important without merit attracts consideration without esteem.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]