Washington Irving Quotes (61 Quotes)

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

It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land...

Ay, go to the grave of buried love and meditate There settle the account with thy conscience for every past benefit unrequited - every past endearment unregarded, of that departed being, who can never, never, never return to be soothed by thy contr

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.

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

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.

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

After all, it is the divinity within that makes the divinity without; and I have been more fascinated by a woman of talent and intelligence, though deficient in personal charms, than I have been by the most regular beauty.

A woman never forgets her sex. She would rather talk with a man than an angel, any day.

Great minds have purposes little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes great minds rise above them.

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

Good temper, like a sunny day, sheds a ray of brightness over everything it is the sweetener of toil and the soother of disquietude.

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

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.

The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal - every other affliction to forget: but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open - this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude.

Who ever hears of fat men heading a riot, or herding together in turbulent mobs? No - no, your lean, hungry men who are continually worrying society, and setting the whole community by the ears.

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

Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.

An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.

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

A barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion.

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

There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.

Society is like a lawn, where every roughness is smoothed, every bramble eradicated, and where the eye is delighted by the smiling verdure of a velvet surface.

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

There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to draw in the May morning of life, when as yet I only knew the world through books, and believed it to be all that poets had painted it and they bring with them the flavour of those honest days of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, I am apt to think the world was more home-bred, social, and joyous than at present.

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.

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.

The grate had been removed from the wide overwhelming fireplace, to make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which was an enormous log glowing and blazing, and sending forth a vast volume of light and heat this I understood was the Yule-log, which the Squire was particular in having brought in and illumined on a Christmas eve, according to ancient custom.

Christmas 'Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart

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

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

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

They who drink beer will think beer.

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

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

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us when adversity takes the place of prosperity when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant.

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

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

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

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

The great British Library -- one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature to which modern authors repair, and draw buckets full of classic lore, or pure English, undefiled wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.

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

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

On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless--but his horror was still more increased on observingthat the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle

It is not poverty so much as pretense that harasses a ruined man - the struggle between a proud mind and an empty purse - the keeping up of a hollow show that must soon come to an end.