Washington Irving Quotes

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

He that drinks beer, thinks beer.

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

Believe me, the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, eats oftener a sweeter morsel, however coarse, than he who procures it by the labor of his brains.

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

Poetry had breathed over and sanctified the land.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion.

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

The slanders of the pen pierce to the heart; they rankle longest in the noblest spirits; they dwell ever present in the mind and render it morbidly sensitive to the most trifling collision.

Too young for woe, though not for tears.

Speculation is the romance of trade, and casts contempt upon on all its sober realities. It renders the stock-jobber a magician, and the exchange a region of enchantment.

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

Poetry is evidently a contagious complaint.

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

He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner.

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

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

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

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

There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the cultivation of forest trees.

Nature seems to delight in disappointing the assiduities of art, with which it would rear legitimate dulness to maturity; and to glory in the vigour and luxuriance of her chance productions.

It is but seldom that any one overt act produces hostilities between two nations; there exists, more commonly, a previous jealousy and ill will, a predisposition to take offense.

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

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

For my part, I love to give myself up to the illusion of poetry. A hero of fiction that never existed is just as valuable to me as a hero of history that existed a thousand years ago.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and unspeakable love.

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

How easy is it for one benevolent being to diffuse pleasure around him, and how truly is a kind heart a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.

Some minds seem almost to create themselves springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles.

There is a certain relief in change even though it be from bad to worse as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.

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

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

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.

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

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

Here's to your good health and your family's good health and may you all live long and prosper.

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

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

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.

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

Great minds have purposes others have wishes.