Esteem for a mid-sort of quota (10)
I believe the answer is:
admiration
'esteem' is the definition.
(I know that esteem can be written as admiration)
'a mid-sort of quota' is the wordplay.
'sort of' is an anagram indicator.
'quota' becomes 'ration' (I've seen this before).
'mid' is an anagram of 'dmi'.
'a'+'dmi'+'ration'='ADMIRATION'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for admiration that I've seen before include "Praise" , "warm approval" , "wonder" , "Veneration, esteem" , "High regard, respect" .)