Washington Irving Quotes - Page 2

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

Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.

Men are always doomed to be duped, not so much by the arts of the other as by their own imagination. They are always wooing goddesses, and marrying mere mortals.

Small minds are subdued by misfortunes, greater minds overcome them.

No man is so methodical as a complete idler, and none so scrupulous in measuring out his time as he whose time is worth nothing.

Enthusiasts soon understand each other.

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

After all, it is the divinity within that makes the divinity without.

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

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

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

I have never found, in anything outside of the four walls of my study, an enjoyment equal to sitting at my writing desk with a clean page, a new theme, and a mind awake.

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.

It is not poverty so much as pretense that harasses a ruined man.

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.

He who would study nature in its wildness and variety, must plunge into the forest, must explore the glen, must stem the torrent, and dare the precipice.

Nothing impresses the mind with a deeper feeling of loneliness than to tread the silent and deserted scene of former throng and pageant.

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

Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven.

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

A father may turn his back on his child, … . but a mother's love endures through all.

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

A mother is the truest friend we have.

Every desire bears its death in its very gratification. Curiosity languishes under repeated stimulants, and novelties cease to excite and surprise, until at length we cannot wonder even at a miracle.