Walter Scott Quotes

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.

It is wonderful what strength of purpose and boldness and energy of will are roused by the assurance that we are doing our duty.

To all, to each, a fair good-night, and pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.

The willow which bends to the tempest often escapes better than the oak which resists it.

O woman! in our hours of ease Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, And variable as the shade By the light quivering aspen made; When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou!

Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening.

Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.

If you once turn on your side after the hour at which you ought to rise, it is all over. Bolt up at once.

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.

Treason seldom dwells with courage.

Look back, and smile on perils past.

He that climbs a ladder must begin at the first round.

War is the only game in which both sides lose.

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

We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.

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

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!

Land of my sires! what mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band That knits me to thy rugged strand!

What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.

The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?

Will future ages believe that such stupid bigotry ever existed!

To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.

Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain! Vain as the leaf upon the stream, And fickle as a changeful dream; Fantastic as a woman's mood, And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood. Thou many-headed monster thing, Oh who would wish to be thy king!

Heap on more wood! - the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still.

Success - keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.

Vengeance to God alone belongs; But, when I think of all my wrongs My blood is liquid flame!

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!

Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above: For love is heaven, and heaven is love.

The will to do, the soul to dare..

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

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.

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

The tear, down childhood's cheek that flows, Is like the dewdrop on the rose; When next the summer breeze comes by And waves the bush, the flower is dry.

Real valor consists not in being insensible to danger; but in being prompt to confront and disarm it.

Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges

For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.

See yonder rock from which the fountain gushes; is it less compact of adamant, though waters flow from it? Firm hearts have moister eyes.

Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the Shore of a dark Scottish lake.

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

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.

I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?

If a farmer fills his barn with grain, he gets mice. If he leaves it empty, he gets actors.

Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.

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

We often praise the evening clouds, And tints so gay and bold, But seldom think upon our God, Who tinged these clouds with gold.

Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer.

The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.

When true friends meet in adverse hour; 'Tis like a sunbeam through a shower. A watery way an instant seen, The darkly closing clouds between.

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.