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Actors, Acting
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In civilized life, where the happiness and indeed almost the existence of man, depends on the opinion of his fellow men. He is constantly acting a studied part.
-Washington Irving
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Adversity
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Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.
-Washington Irving
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Age
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Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.
-Washington Irving
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Alcohol/Alcoholism
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They who drink beer will think beer.
-Washington Irving
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Anger
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Temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
-Washington Irving
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A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
-Washington Irving
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Attitude
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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.
-Washington Irving
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Authors & Writing
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I am always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories.
-Washington Irving
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Change
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There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.
-Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveler
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Communication
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The tongue is the only instrument that gets sharper with use.
-Washington Irving
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Crying
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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 messengers of overwhelming griefand unspeakable love.
-Washington Irving
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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.
-Washington Irving
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Diets and Dieting
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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.
-Washington Irving
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Dignity
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There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others however humble.
-Washington Irving
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Envy / Jealousy
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There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.
-Washington Irving
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Genius
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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.
-Washington Irving
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Grief, Grieving
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The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal -- every other affliction to forget: but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open -- this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude.
-Washington Irving
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Heroes/Heroism
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The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.
-Washington Irving
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Kindness
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A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.
-Washington Irving
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Law
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Young lawyers attend the courts, not because they have business there, but because they have no business.
-Washington Irving
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Libraries
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The great British Library -- one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature to which modern authors repair, and draw buckets full of classic lore, or pure English, undefiled wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought.
-Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book, The Art of Book-Making, 1819-20
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Love
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A woman's life is a history of the affections.
-Washington Irving
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Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
-Washington Irving
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Marriage
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Marriage is the torment of one, the felicity of two, the strife and enmity of three.
-Washington Irving
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Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home.
-Washington Irving
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Books by and about Washington Irving