Washington Irving Quotes

The natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate the mind.

History is but a kind of Newgate calendar, a register of the crimes and miseries that man has inflicted on his fellow-man.

somehow or other, there is a genial sunshine about you that warms every creeping thing into heart and confidence. Your

True love will not brook reserve; it feels undervalued and outraged, when even the sorrows of those it loves are concealed from it.

I have often had occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortunes.

He who wins a thousand common hearts is entitled to some renown; but he who keeps undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero.

The youthful freshness of a blameless heart.

They who drink beer will think beer.

Others may write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart will always understand him.

There is nothing in this world so hard to get at as truth, and there is nothing in this world but truth that I care for.

Washington, in fact, had very little private life, but was eminently a public character.

Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.

I consider a story merely as a frame on which to stretch my materials.

And if unhappy in her love, her heart is like some fortress that has been captured, and sacked, and abandoned, and left desolate ...

A woman is more considerate in affairs of love than a man; because love is more the study and business of her life.

I value this delicious home-feeling as one of the choicest gifts a parent can bestow.

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Christmas is here, Merry old Christmas, Gift-bearing Christmas, Day of grand memories, King of the year!

Into the space of one little hour sins enough may be conjured up by evil tongues to blast the fame of a whole life of virtue.

No man knows what the wife of his bosom is until he has gone with her through the fiery trials of this world.

Every antique farm-house and moss-grown cottage is a picture.

Rising genius always shoots out its rays from among the clouds, but these will gradually roll away and disappear as it ascends to its steady luster.

There are moments of mingled sorrow and tenderness, which hallow the caresses of affection.

There is a sacredness in tears....They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.

I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration.

The tie which links mother and child is of such pure and immaculate strength as to be never violated.

It was Shakespeare's notion that on this day birds begin to couple; hence probably arose the custom of sending fancy love-billets.

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.

The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use.

Poetry is evidently a contagious complaint.

Angling is an amusement peculiarly adapted to the mild and cultivated scenery of England

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more.

It has also been the peculiar lot of our country to be visited by the worst kind of English travellers.

Nothing impresses the mind with a deeper feeling of loneliness than to tread the silent and deserted scene of former throng and pageant.

It's a fair wind that blew men to ale.

The moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside; the boding cry of the tree-toad, that harbinger of storm; the dreary hooting of the screechowl.

There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a son that trancends all other affections of the heart

Marriage is the torment of one, the felicity of two, the strife and enmity of three.

The tongue is the only instrument that gets sharper with use.

Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home.

A woman's life is a history of the affections.

The oil and wine of merry meeting.

Small minds are subdued by misfortunes, greater minds overcome them.

After a man passes 60 , his mischief is mainly in his head

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.

Those who are well assured of their own standing are least apt to trepass on that of others.

One point is certain, that truth is one and immutable; until the jurors all agree, they cannot all be right.

The only happy author in this world is he who is below the care of reputation.

There is nothing like the silence and loneliness of night to bring dark shadows over the brightest mind.

The easiest thing to do, whenever you fail, is to put yourself down by blaming your lack of ability for your misfortunes.

There was one species of despotism under which he had long groaned, and that was petticoat government.

Jealous people poison their own banquet and then eat it

Connecticut, a State which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest,

Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.

Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.

I am always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories.

Enthusiasts soon understand each other.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.

To look upon its grass grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one would think that there at least the dead might rest in peace.

Villainy wears many masks; none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.

Young lawyers attend the courts, not because they have business there, but because they have no business.

[I]n the gloomy month of February ... The Deserts of Arabia are not more dreary and inhospitable than the streets of London at such a time ...

There is a sacredness in tears

A woman's whole life is a history of the affections.

He who would greatly deserve must greatly dare.

Poetry had breathed over and sanctified the land.

A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

No man is so methodical as a complete idler, and none so scrupulous in measuring out his time as he whose time is worth nothing.

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

He that drinks beer, thinks beer.

There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others however humble.

Too young for woe, though not for tears.

The very difference of character in marriage produces a harmonious combination.

But what courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman's tongue?

The Englishman is too apt to neglect the present good in preparing against the possible evil.

Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.

Ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves.

I sometimes think one of the great blessings we shall enjoy in heaven, will be to receive letters by every post and never be obliged to reply to them.

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.

Man passes away; his name perishes from record and recollection; his history is as a tale that is told, and his very monument becomes a ruin.

I've had it with you and your emotional constipation!

The paternal hearth, the rallying-place of the affections.

It's a dog eat dog world. But only if the second dog is more stupid than the first.

There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.

The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.

Acting provides the fulfillment of never being fulfilled. You're never as good as you'd like to be. So there's always something to hope for.

There is a majestic grandeur in tranquillity.

There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind.

The natural principle of war is to do the most harm to our enemy with the least harm to ourselves; and this of course is to be effected by stratagem.

It lightens the stroke to draw near to Him who handles the rod.

There is no character in the comedy of human life more difficult to play well than that of an old bachelor.

He is the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.