Walter Scott Quotations | Page 2

Independently of the curious circumstance that such tales should be found existing in very different countries and languages, which augurs a greater poverty of human invention than we would have expected, there is also a sort of wild fairy interest in them, which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the imagination and soften the heart of childhood than the good-boy stories which have been in later years composed for them.

Saint George and the Dragon!-Bonny Saint George for Merry England!-The castle is won!

What a strange scene if the surge of conversation could suddenly ebb like the tide, and show us the real state of people's minds.

Vacant heart, and hand, and eye, Easy live and quiet die.

What skilful limner e'er would choose To paint the rainbow's varying hues, Unless to mortal it were given To dip his brush in dyes of heaven?

Covetousness bursts the sack and spills the grain.

Stood for his country's glory fast, And nailed her colors to the mast!

The playbill, which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out.

Sordid selfishness doth contract and narrow our benevolence, and cause us, like serpents, to infold ourselves within ourselves, and to turn out our stings to the entire world besides.

Methinks I will not die quite happy without having seen something of that Rome of which I have read so much.

True love's the gift which God has given to man alone beneath the heaven.

Adversity is like the period of the rain. . . cold, comfortless, unfriendly to people and to animals; yet from that season have their birth the flower, the fruit, the date, the rose and the pomegranate.

The rose is fairest when 't is budding new, And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears. The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.

The Book of Books Within this ample volume lies The mystery of mysteries. Happiest they of human race To whom their God has given grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch, to force the way; But better had they ne'er been born That read to doubt or read to scorn.

Women are but the toys which amuse our lighter hours---ambition is the serious business of life.

The pith of conversation does not consist in exhibiting your own superior knowledge on matters of small consequence, but in enlarging, improving and correcting the information you possess by the authority of others.

I will but confess the sins of my green cloak to my grey friar's frock, and all shall be well again.

In listening mood she seemed to stand, The guardian Naiad of the strand.

Tell that to the marines - the sailors won't believe it.

He turn'd his charger as he spake, Upon the river shore, He gave his bridle reins a shake, Said, "Adieu for evermore, my love, And adieu for evermore."

The schoolmaster is termed, classically, Ludi Magister, because he deprives boys of their play.

He that would soothe sorrow must not argue on the vanity of the most deceitful hopes.

Sleep in peace, and wake in joy.

Sensibility is nature's celestial spring.

The lover's pleasure, like that of the hunter, is in the chase, and the brightest beauty loses half its merit, as the flower its perfume, when the willing hand can reach it too easily. There must be doubt; there must be difficulty and danger.

Every hour has its end.

If a faultless poem could be produced, I am satisfied it would tire the critics themselves; and annoy the whole reading world with the spleen.

Without courage there cannot be truth, and without truth there can be no other virtue.

Treason seldom dwells with courage.

And children know, Instinctive taught, the friend and foe.

A sound head, an honest heart, and an humble spirit are the three best guides through time and to eternity.

It is the privilege of tale-tellers to open their story in an inn, the free rendezvous of all travellers, and where the humour of each displays itself, without ceremony or restraint.

Love will subsist on wonderfully little hope but not altogether without it.

We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.

One or two of these scoundrel statesmen should be shot once a-year, just to keep the others on their good behavior.

In the name of God!" said Gurth, "how came they prisoners? and to whom?" "Our master was too ready to fight," said the Jester, "and Athelstane was not ready enough, and no other person was ready at all.

Tears are the softening showers which cause the seed of heaven to spring up in the human heart.

The time which passes over our heads so imperceptibly makes the same gradual change in habits, manners and character, as in personal appearance. At the revolution of every five years we find ourselves another and yet the same;--there is a change of views, and no less of the light in which we regard them; a change of motives as well as of action.

It is more difficult to look upon victory than upon battle.

Chess is a sad waste of brains.

Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.

A sinful heart makes feeble hand.

A fool's wild speech confounds the wise.

Perhaps the perusal of such works may, without injustice, be compared with the use of opiates, baneful, when habitually and constantly resorted to, but of most blessed power in those moments of pain and of langour, when the whole head is sore, and the whole heart sick. If those who rail indiscriminately at this species of composition, were to consider the quantity of actual pleasure it produces, and the much greater proportion of real sorrow and distress which it alleviates, their philanthropy ought to moderate their critical pride, or religious intolerance.

Certainly," quoth Athelstane, "women are the least to be trusted of all animals, monks and abbots excepted.

...crystal and hearts would lose all their merit in the world if it were not for their fragility.

Literature is a great staff, but a very sorry crutch.

Fortune may raise up or abuse the ordinary mortal, but the sage and the soldier should have minds beyond her control.

The paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.

It is only when I dally with what I am about, look back and aside, instead of keeping my eyes straight forward, that I feel these cold sinkings of the heart.

The chain of friendship, however bright, does not stand the attrition of constant close contact.

I like a highland friend who will stand by me not only when I am in the right, but when I am a little in the wrong.

True love's the gift which God has given To man alone beneath the heaven: It is not fantasy's hot fire, Whose wishes soon as granted fly; It liveth not in fierce desire.

Look at a gown of gold, and you will at least get a sleeve of it.

Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer.

War is the only game in which both sides lose.

A Finnan haddock has a relish of a peculiar and delicate flavour, inimitable on any other coast than that of Aberdeenshire. Some of our Edinburgh philosophers tried to produce their equal in vain. I was one of a party at dinner where the philosophical haddocks were placed in competition with the genuine Finnan fish. These were served round without distinguishing whence they came; but only one gentleman out of twelve present espoused the cause of philosophy.

Hail to the chief in triumph advances.

You will, I trust, resemble a forest plant, which has indeed, by some accident, been brought up in the greenhouse, and thus rendered delicate and effeminate, but which regains its native firmness and tenacity, when exposed for a season to the winter air.

Honour is a homicide and a bloodspiller, that gangs about making frays in the street; but Credit is a decent honest man, that sits at hame and makes the pat play.

Wounds sustained for the sake of conscience carry their own balsam with the blow.

I did not myself set a high estimation on wealth, and had the affectation of most young men of lively imagination, who suppose that they can better dispense with the possession of money, than resign their time and faculties to the labour necessary to acquire it.

Now, it is well known, that a man may with more impunity be guilty of an actual breach either of real good breeding or of good morals, than appear ignorant of the most minute point of fashionable etiquette.

Come forth, old man,--thy daughter's side Is now the fitting place for thee: When time has quell'd the oak's bold pride, The youthful tendril yet may hide, The ruins of the parent tree.

Here is neither want of appetite nor mouths, Pray heaven we be not scant of meat or mirth.

The sickening pang of hope deferr'd.

Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base, as soon as I.

Time rolls his ceaseless course.

My hope, my heaven, my trust must be, My gentle guide, in following thee.

I envy thee not thy faith, which is ever in thy mouth but never in thy heart nor in thy practice

It was woman that taught me cruelty, and on woman therefore I have exercised it.

Thou hast had thty day, old dame, but thy sun has long been set. Thou art now the very emblem of an old warhorse turned out on the barren heath; thou hast had thy paces in thy time, but now a broken amble is the best of them.

For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.

And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.

In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed; In halls, in gay attire is seen; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above; For love is heaven, and heaven is love.

The most learned, acute, and diligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume.

As hope and fear alternate chase Our course through life's uncertain race.

I'll dream no more--by mainly mind Not even in sleep is well resigned. My midnight orisons said o'er, I'll turn to rest and dream no more.

O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?

Where shall the lover rest, Whom the fates sever From his true maiden's breast, Parted for ever? Where, through groves deep and high, Sounds the far billow, Where early violets die, Under the willow.

True love's the gift which God has given To man alone beneath the heaven. It is the secret sympathy, The silver link, the silken tie, Which heart to heart, and mind to mind, In body and in soul can bind.

Her blue eyes sought the west afar, For lovers love the western star.

I was born a Scotsman and a bare one. Therefore I was born to fight my way in the world.

See yonder rock from which the fountain gushes; is it less compact of adamant, though waters flow from it? Firm hearts have moister eyes.

My dear, be a good man be virtuous be religious be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here. ...God bless you all.

In prosperous times I have sometimes felt my fancy and powers of language flag, but adversity is to me at least a tonic and bracer.

He who indulges his sense in any excesses renders himself obnoxious to his own reason; and, to gratify the brute in him, displeases the man, and sets his two natures at variance.

Mellow nuts have the hardest rind.

Whose lenient sorrows find relief, whose joys are chastened by their grief.

Guilt, though it may attain temporal splendor, can never confer real happiness; the evil consequences of our crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, forever haunt the steps of the malefactor; while the paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.

For deadly fear can time outgo, and blanch at once the hair.

What an ornament and safeguard is humor! Far better than wit for a poet and writer. It is a genius itself, and so defends from the insanities.

All live by seeming. The beggar begs with it, and the gay courtier Gains land and title, rank and rule, by seeming; The clergy scorn it not, and the bold soldier Will eke with it his service.--All admit it, All practise it; and he who is content With showing what he is, shall have small credit In church, or camp, or state.--So wags the world.

Greatness of any kind has no greater foe than a habit of drinking.

Well, then--our course is chosen--spread the sail-- Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings well-- Look to the helm, good master--many a shoal Marks this stern coast, and rocks, where sits the Siren Who, like ambition, lures men to their ruin.

A few drops sprinkled on the torch of love make the flame blaze the brighter.

Warriors! and where are warriors found, If not on martial Britain's ground? And who, when waked with note of fire, Love more than they the British lyre?

Merrily, merrily goes the bark On a breeze from the northward free, So shoots through the morning sky the lark, Or the swan through the summer sea.

For monarchs seldom sigh in vain.

Good even, good fair moon, good even to thee. I prithee, dear moon, now show to me the form and the features, the speech and degree, of the man that true lover of mine shall be.