Best 285 quotes of Walter Scott on MyQuotes

A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man's heart through half the year.

Adversity is like the period of the rain. . . cold, comfortless, unfriendly to people and to animals; yet from that season have their birth the flower, the fruit, the date, the rose and the pomegranate.

Affection can withstand very severe storms of vigor, but not a long polar frost of indifference.

A Finnan haddock has a relish of a peculiar and delicate flavour, inimitable on any other coast than that of Aberdeenshire. Some of our Edinburgh philosophers tried to produce their equal in vain. I was one of a party at dinner where the philosophical haddocks were placed in competition with the genuine Finnan fish. These were served round without distinguishing whence they came; but only one gentleman out of twelve present espoused the cause of philosophy.

A fool's wild speech confounds the wise.

A glass of good wine is a gracious creature, and reconciles poor mortality to itself and that is what few things can do.

A good deal of philanthropy arises in general from mere vanity and love of distinction gilded over to others and to themselves with some show of benevolent sentiment.

Alas!... what is it, valiant knight, save an offering of sacrifice to a demon of vain glory, and a passing through the fire of Moloch? What remains to you as a prize of all the blood you have spilled, of all the travail and pain you have endured, of all the tears which your deeds have caused, when death hath broken the strong man's spear, and overtaken the speed of his war-horse?

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.

All live by seeming. The beggar begs with it, and the gay courtier Gains land and title, rank and rule, by seeming; The clergy scorn it not, and the bold soldier Will eke with it his service.--All admit it, All practise it; and he who is content With showing what he is, shall have small credit In church, or camp, or state.--So wags the world.

All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.

Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.

Ambition is no cure for love!

A mother's pride, a father's joy.

And better had they ne'er been born, Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.

And children know, Instinctive taught, the friend and foe.

And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.

A ruin should always be protected but never repaired - thus may we witness full the lingering legacies of the past.

A rusted nail, placed near the faithful compass, Will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.

As hope and fear alternate chase Our course through life's uncertain race.

A sinful heart makes feeble hand.

As long as the Fates permit, live cheerfully.

A sound head, an honest heart, and an humble spirit are the three best guides through time and to eternity.

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A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Command them to stand and show themselves, and you presently assert the power of reason over imagination.

Besides, Rose Bradwardine, beautiful and amiable as we have described her, had not precisely the sort of beauty or merit which captivates a romantic imagination in early youth. She was too frank, too confiding, too kind; amiable qualities, undoubtedly, but destructive of the marvellous, with which a youth of imagination delights to dress the empress of his affections.

Blessed be his name, who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the busy day, and the calm sleep to refresh the wearied limbs and to compose the troubled spirit.

Blud's thicker than water.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, As home his footsteps he hath turn'd From wandering on a foreign strand! If such there breathe, go mark him well; For him no Minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

But with morning cool repentance came.

But woe awaits a country when She sees the tears of bearded men.

Call it not vain: they do not err Who say that when the poet dies Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, And celebrates his obsequies.

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.

Cats are a very mysterious kind of folk. There is always more passing in their minds than we are aware of.

Caution comes too late when we are in the midst of evils.

Certainly," quoth Athelstane, "women are the least to be trusted of all animals, monks and abbots excepted.

"Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!" Were the last words of Marmion.

Chess is a sad waste of brains.

Chivalry!---why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection---the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant ---Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.

Come forth, old man,--thy daughter's side Is now the fitting place for thee: When time has quell'd the oak's bold pride, The youthful tendril yet may hide, The ruins of the parent tree.

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can, Come saddle your horses, and call up your men; Come open the West Port, and let me gang free, And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!

Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base, as soon as I.

Commend me to sterling honesty though clad in rags.

Contentions fierce, Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.

Credit is like a looking-glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clear again; but if once cracked can never be repaired.

...crystal and hearts would lose all their merit in the world if it were not for their fragility.

Dear to me is my bonnie white steed; Oft has he helped me at pinch of need.

Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.