Famous quotes containing the words merit and/or cross:
“Be thou the first true merit to befriend;
His praise is lost who stays till all commend.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“In ancient times—’twas no great loss—
They hung the thief upon the cross:
But now, alas!—I say’t with grief—
They hang the cross upon the thief.”
—Anonymous. “On a Nomination to the Legion of Honour,” from Aubrey Stewart’s English Epigrams and Epitaphs (1897)