Famous quotes containing the words merit and/or cross:
“There is a sort of homely truth and naturalness in some books which is very rare to find, and yet looks cheap enough. There may be nothing lofty in the sentiment, or fine in the expression, but it is careless country talk. Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art. Some have this merit only.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death ... others through sheer inability to cross the street.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)