Walter Scott Quotes

232 Sourced Quotes

In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed;
In war, he mounts the warrior's steed;
In halls, in gay attire is seen;
In hamlets, dances on the green.
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,
And men below, and saints above;
For love is heaven, and heaven is love.

Walter Scott
Time will rust the sharpest sword,
Time will consume the strongest cord;
That which molders hemp and steel,
Mortal arm and nerve must feel.

Walter Scott
The way was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old;
His withered cheek, and tresses gray,
Seemed to have known a better day.

Walter Scott
He who has wronged you is either stronger or weaker than yourself: be he weaker, spare him; be he stronger, then spare yourself.

Walter Scott
Merrily, merrily goes the bark On a breeze from the northward free, So shoots through the morning sky the lark, Or the swan through the summer sea.

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

Walter Scott
For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.

Walter Scott
The pith of conversation does not consist in exhibiting your own superior knowledge on matters of small consequence, but in enlarging, improving and correcting the information you possess by the authority of others.

Walter Scott
Let him who has granted a favour speak not of it; let him who has received one, proclaim it.

Walter Scott
I cannot tell how the truth may be;
I say the tale as 'twas said to me.

Walter Scott
Saint George and the Dragon!-Bonny Saint George for Merry England!-The castle is won!

Walter Scott
The eye of the yeoman and peasant sought in vain the tall form of old Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, as, wrapped in his laced cloak, and with beard and whiskers duly composed, he moved slowly through the aisles, followed be the faithful mastiff, or bloodhound, which in old time had saved his master by his fidelity, and which regularly followed him to church. Bevis indeed, fell under the proverb which avers, 'He is a good dog, which goes to church'; for, bating an occasional temptation to warble along with the accord, he behaved himself as decorously as any of the congregation, and returned much edified, perhaps, as most of them.

Walter Scott
You will, I trust, resemble a forest plant, which has indeed, by some accident, been brought up in the greenhouse, and thus rendered delicate and effeminate, but which regains its native firmness and tenacity, when exposed for a season to the winter air.

Walter Scott
He that would soothe sorrow must not argue on the vanity of the most deceitful hopes.

Walter Scott
What various scenes, and O! what scenes of Woe,
Are witness'd by that red and struggling beam!
The fever'd patient, from his pallet low,
Through crowded hospitals beholds it stream;
The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam,
The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail,
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream;
The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale,
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble wail.

Walter Scott
On his bold visage middle age
Had slightly pressed its signet sage,
Yet had not quenched the open truth
And fiery vehemence of youth;
Forward and frolic glee was there,
The will to do, the soul to dare,
The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire,
Of hasty love or headlong ire.

Walter Scott
But I must say to the Muse of fiction, as the Earl of Pembroke said to the ejected nun of Wilton, 'Go spin, you jade, go spin'.

Walter Scott
Vacant heart, and hand, and eye,
Easy live and quiet die.

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 once.

Walter Scott
Were I my own man…I would refuse this offer (with all gratitude); but as I am situated, L.300 or L.400 a-year is not to be sneezed at.
On being offered the Laureateship

Walter Scott
Still from the sire the son shall hear
Of the stern strife, and carnage drear,
Of Flodden's fatal field,
Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear,
And broken was her shield!

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

Walter Scott
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale,
All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border.

Walter Scott
Woe to the youth whom Fancy gains, Winning from Reason's hand the reins, Pity and woe! for such a mind Is soft contemplative, and kind.

Walter Scott
When we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament-men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns - But naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon.

Walter Scott