Washington Irving
84 quotes
Biography
Washington Irving was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
"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."
"There is a sacredness in tears....They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love."
"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."
"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 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."
"Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart."
"Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart."
"Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them."
"Others may write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart will always understand him."
"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."
"There are certain half-dreaming moods of mind in which we naturally steal away from noise and glare, and seek some quiet haunt where we may indulge our reveries and build our air castles undisturbed."
"Balt Van Tassel was an easy indulgent soul; he loved his daughter better even than his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an excellent father, let her have her way in everything."
"...ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves."
"I endeavor to take things as they come with cheerfulness, and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner."
"Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old."
"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place."
"The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty."
"Free-livers on a small scale, who are prodigal within the compass of a guinea."
"There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm that is not to be doubted."
"How convenient it would be to many of our great men and great families of doubtful origin, could they have the privilege of the heroes of yore, who, whenever their origin was involved in obscurity, modestly announced themselves descended from a god."
"Who ever hears of fat men heading a riot, or herding together in turbulent mobs? — No — no, ‘tis your lean, hungry men who are continually worrying society, and setting the whole community by the ears."
"His wife "ruled the roost," and in governing the governor, governed the province, which might thus be said to be under petticoat government."
"They claim to be the first inventors of those recondite beverages, cocktail, stonefence, and sherry cobbler."
"My native country was full of youthful promise; Europe was rich in the accumulated treasures of age."
"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."
"Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home."