To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.
King George VI, Award of the George Cross to Malta (15 April 1942)
Malta, the Cape of Good Hope of the Mediterranean
Malta, the Nurse of the Mediterranean
Malta, the King's Island
'Malta of gold, Malta of silver, Malta of precious metal,
We shall never take you!
No, not even if you were as soft as a gourd,
Not even if you were protected by an onion skin!
And from her ramparts a voice replied:
I am she who decimated the galleys of the Turks and all the warriors of Constantinople and Galata!'
(A sixteenth century Cypriot ballad - Eric Gerada-Azzopardi, 1984)