Careful Words

credit (n.)

credit (v.)

Blest paper-credit! last and best supply!

That lends corruption lighter wings to fly.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Moral Essays. Epistle iii. Line 39.

  He smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852): Speech on Hamilton, March 10, 1831. P. 200.

Like one

Who having into truth, by telling of it,

Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Tempest. Act i. Sc. 2.

  Private credit is wealth; public honour is security. The feather that adorns the royal bird supports its flight; strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth.

Letters of Junius. Letter xlii. Affair of the Falkland Islands.