Walter Scott quote: "What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it."

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual he...
WALTER SCOTT

He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out o...
WALTER SCOTT

A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
WALTER SCOTT

Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues he...
WALTER SCOTT

Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
WALTER SCOTT

Success - keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.
WALTER SCOTT

When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
WALTER SCOTT

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

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

Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.
WALTER SCOTT

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

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

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some kno...
WALTER SCOTT

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

We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt.
WALTER SCOTT

Look back, and smile on perils past.
WALTER SCOTT

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

Death, the last sleep? No the final awakening.
WALTER SCOTT

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

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.
WALTER SCOTT

Credit is like a looking-glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clear again; but i...
WALTER SCOTT

It is wonderful what strength of purpose and boldness and energy of will are roused by the assurance...
WALTER SCOTT

Death--the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.
WALTER SCOTT

Chivalry!---why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection---the stay of the oppressed, th...
WALTER SCOTT

It is more than probable that the average man could, with no injury to his health, increase his effi...
WALTER SCOTT

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

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

For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.
WALTER SCOTT

O! many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word, at random spok...
WALTER SCOTT

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

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining un...
WALTER SCOTT

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

He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit, He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail ...
WALTER SCOTT

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

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

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

La vendetta, caro signore, la vendetta, la quale, èur essendo un peccato da gentiluomo come il vino...
WALTER SCOTT

La vendetta, caro signore, la vendetta, la quale, pur essendo un peccato da gentiluomo come il vino,...
WALTER SCOTT

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

We met each other in junior high back in the '60s. Motown was in its heyday then. So we were no diff...
WALTER SCOTT

We're in a catch-22,
WALTER SCOTT

…having once seen him put forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him again among a th...
WALTER SCOTT

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

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

To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory and perfection of our natures, is the very principl...
WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
WALTER SCOTT

The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and t...
WALTER SCOTT

Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.
WALTER SCOTT

The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, ...
WALTER SCOTT

In the wide pile, by others heeded not,
Hers was one sacred solitary spot,
Whose gloomy ai...
WALTER SCOTT

I will tear this folly from my heart, though every fibre bleed as I rend it away!
WALTER SCOTT

One of the most important phases of maturing is that of growth from self-centering to an understandi...
WALTER SCOTT

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim. One crowded hour of glor...
WALTER SCOTT

so wondrous wild, the whole might seem
the scenery of a fairy dream
WALTER SCOTT

Trade has all the fascination of gambling without its moral guilt.
WALTER SCOTT

Look back, and smile on perils past!
WALTER SCOTT

XII.—LOCHINVAR. Oh! young Lochinvar is come out of the west, Through all the wide Border his steed...
WALTER SCOTT

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive
WALTER SCOTT

Courtesy of tongue," said Rowena, "when it is used to veil churlishness of deed, is but a knight's g...
WALTER SCOTT

Far better was our homely diet, eaten in peace and liberty, than the luxurious dainties, the love of...
WALTER SCOTT

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

Many a law, many a commandment have I broken, but my word never.
WALTER SCOTT

When I reflect with what slow and limited supplies the stream of science hath hitherto descended to ...
WALTER SCOTT

Of this fickle temper he gave a memorable example in Ireland, when sent thither by his father, Henry...
WALTER SCOTT

He that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good whic...
WALTER SCOTT

...[E]xcept the flying fish, there was no race existing on the earth, in the air, or the waters, who...
WALTER SCOTT

...[T]he Normans, with the usual policy of conquerors, were jealous of permitting to the vanquished ...
WALTER SCOTT

As good play for nothing, you know, as work for nothing.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim. One crowded hour of glor...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

If you have no friends to share or rejoice in your success in life -- if you cannot look back to tho...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
To all the sensual world proclaim,
One crowded hour ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Come he slow or come he fast. It is but death who comes at last.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Death -- the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Is death the last step? No, it is the final awakening.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

It is wonderful what strength of purpose and boldness and energy of will are roused by the assurance...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

Look back, and smile at perils past.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

O!, many a shaft at random sent
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word at rando...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some kno...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Teach you children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues her...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

The faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual he...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!
SIR WALTER SCOTT

There never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in the character which is a stranger...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

But with morning cool repentance came.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Ridicule often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Then, wearied by the uncertainty and difficulties with which each scheme appeared to be attended, he...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

To be always intending to live a new life, but never find time to set about it - this is as if a man...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale; 'twas Christmas told the merriest tale; a Christmas gamb...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Credit is like a looking-glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clear again; but i...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Sordid selfishness doth contract and narrow our benevolence, and cause us, like serpents, to infold ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall for...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

We do that in our zeal our calmer moment would be afraid to answer.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Discretion is being able to raise your eyebrow instead of your voice.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse; Fear, for their sc...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

A foot more light, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

Where's the coward that would not dare To fight for such a land?
SIR WALTER SCOTT

But with the morning cool repentance came.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Great talent has always a little madness mixed up with it.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Do what you should, not what you may.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

After a bad harvest sow again. [Yield not to difficulties.]
SIR WALTER SCOTT

A friend always loves, but he who loves is not always a friend.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my n...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new, And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears; The...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

For monarchs seldom sigh in vain.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

He is most powerful who governs himself.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Consider an enemy may become a friend.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

As long as the Fates permit, live cheerfully.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

'Tis an old tale, and often told; But did my fate and wish agree, Ne'er had been read, in stor...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Necessity--thou best of peacemakers, As well as surest prompter of invention.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Vengeance, deep-brooding o'er the slain, Had locked the source of softer woe, And burning pride and ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Some feelings are to mortals given, With less of earth in them than heaven.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Woe to the youth whom Fancy gains, Winning from Reason's hand the reins, Pity and woe! for su...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I cannot tell how the truth may be;
I say the tale as 'twas said to me.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive! - Marmion.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Within that awful volume lies The mystery of mysteries! Happiest they of human race, To ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

O Caledonia! stern and wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child! Land of brown heath and shaggy wo...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The play bill which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Contentious fierce, Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

What skilful limner e'er would choose To paint the rainbow's varying hues, Unless to mortal it...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Forward and frolic glee was there, The will to do, the soul to dare.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

My foot is on my native heath, and my name is MacGregor.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Like the dew on the mountain, Like the foam on the river, Like the bubble on the fountain, ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

And honeysuckle loved to crawl Up the low crag and ruin'd wall.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Well, then--our course is chosen--spread the sail-- Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings wel...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

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

The will to do, the soul to dare.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

And come he slow, or come he fast,
It is but death who comes at last.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

To all, to each, a fair good night,
And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

O! many a shaft, at random sent,
Finds mark the archer little meant;
And many a word, at ran...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

And let our barks across the pathless flood Hold different courses.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The summer dawn's reflected hue To purple changed Lock Katrine blue, Mildly and soft the weste...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Loud o'er my head though awful thunders roll, And vivid lightnings flash from pole to pole, Ye...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Art thou a friend to Roderick?
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Ah, County Guy, the hour is nigh, The sun has left the lea, The orange flower perfumes the bow...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Credit is like a looking - glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clean again; but...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

That day of wrath, that dreadful day, when heaven and earth shall pass away.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

And come he slow, or come he fast,
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Success - keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I can give you a six-word formula for success: "Think things through - then follow through
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The consequences of our crimes long survive their commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I am enamoured of my journal
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Court not the critic's smile nor dread his frown
SIR WALTER SCOTT

True love's the gift which God has given to man alone beneath the heaven.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as it was said to me
SIR WALTER SCOTT

He may as well not thank at all, who thanks when none are by.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

He, who will not pardon others, must not himself expect pardon.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Scared out of his seven senses.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!
SIR WALTER SCOTT

The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Haste, holy Friar, Haste, ere the sinner shall expire! Of all his guilt let him be shriven, ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It [true love] is the secret sympathy, The silver link, the silken tie, Which heart to heart, ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. 'Twas Christmas broach...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

In listening mood she seemed to stand, The guardian Naiad of the strand.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

In man's most dark extremity Oft succor dawns from Heaven.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Delightful praise!--like summer rose, That brighter in the dew-drop glows, The bashful maiden'...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Hard toil can roughen form and face, And want call quench the eye's bright grace.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

St. Leon raised his kindling eye, And lifts the sparkling cup on high; "I drink to one," he sa...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim, One crowded hour o...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Profan'd the God-given strength, and marr'd the lofty line.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Jock, when he hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, ...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Let him who has granted a favour speak not of it; let him who has received one, proclaim it.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

Let ease and rest at times be given to the weary.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It is the fault of youth that it cannot restrain its own impetuosity.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It is part of the cure to wish to be cured. [Lat., Pars sanitatis velle sanari fruit.]
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It is equally a fault to believe all men or to believe none.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It is a proof of nobility of mind to despise injuries.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

It is a disgrace to say one thing and think another; but how much more disgraceful to write one thi...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

If you live according to the requirements of nature, you will never be in want; if according to the...
SIR WALTER SCOTT

I do not sacrifice, but lend myself to business.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

He, who holds out but a doubtful hope of succour to the afflicted, denies it.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

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Walter Scott

What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.

Walter Scott

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