Quotes By Washington Irving

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.

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

Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is to little.

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.

A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.

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.

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.

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.

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

There is in every 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.

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

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