Quotes by Walter Scott

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Those who entertain good opinions of a man before they know him well, are wont for a time to take his faults and faults for virtues and talents.

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Flattery pleases, even when uttered by the lips of a fool...praise makes an impression on us, even though we despise the grounds and motives that prompt its expression.

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The problem with those who write quickly is that they cannot write concisely.

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There is nothing more precious in life than your own experience.

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There are two things that never wait: time and influx.

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Long tongues...cause strife between neighbors and between peoples.

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The consequences of crimes have a more lasting effect than the crimes themselves.

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If people do not learn to help each other, humanity will disappear from the earth.

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Of all the vices, drunkenness is the most incompatible with spiritual greatness.

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The less you talk, the faster you will finish working.

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We will never learn to respect and feel our true purpose if we rely on anything but the heart.

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Don't listen! You risk hearing bad words even about yourself.

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It's amazing how much good our bravery and willpower do to believe we're doing our duty.

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A mistake may bring temporary success, but it will not bring true happiness.

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Only evil people fear evil.

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God help you, my son! He helps even if a broken stake is your only support in the world.

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He crushes the strong and tears the weak; the rich subjugate and rob the poor; the happy (who believes himself to be happy in his pitiful folly) mocks the unfortunate, steals away the consolation of the fallen.

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In one sense we are born to endure and suffer, but in another sense we are born to be happy and to act. After a busy day, relaxation comes in the evening, the wordless suffering is also followed by dissolution, and we can be comforted by the awareness of a duty well done.

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Perhaps there isn't a situation so miserable that it doesn't bring some sort of comfort.

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The selfish man lived only for himself, but in the end he was cursed. He descended into the depths twice, the lump covered him without a trace, no one begs for his soul.

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Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, the people on earth and the saints on high, for love is heaven, and heaven is love.

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A dog that sheds its blood while doing its duty is more noble and valuable than a man who has broken that duty!

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It's a man's job, if he gets hit, to fight back immediately! This is also stated in the scriptures.

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The devil resides in women (...), they cheer, giggle, storm even when their best friend is lying on the funeral pyre.

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This is the nature of man, he thinks first of the fate of his people, then of his own.

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The girl blew a kiss on the chalice, the knight drank it and knocked it to the ground. She looks down, blushes, looks up and sighs, with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

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The soul of a man living in the midst of mortal dangers and eternal struggles is much more receptive to the appreciation of spiritual greatness than that of a man softened in the uneventfulness of peace and incapable of greater emotions.

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If we lose one of our eyes, we see more clearly in the other. If one of our hands is cut off, its power also moves to the other. And if the part of our brain with which we observe and interpret earthly things becomes dim, the greater light is ignited in that other part.

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There are faces that hide our true feelings better than masks hide our smiles or embarrassment.

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Sadness is like the evening and morning rain, which saddens man and beast, but fertilizes the earth, sprouts fruit trees, ripens dates and pomegranates, and makes rosebuds bloom.

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Whoever regrets his gift has already demanded it back!

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It is not right to look back when our path takes us forward!

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If the toddler wants to walk, give him your arm. If the ignorant want to enlighten his mind, listen to the wise!

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What is true is true, even if it comes from the mouth of a fool.

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The feeling that was awakened in the past glows in the poem and makes me sing, and all the cliffs and headlands that played with my awakening imagination are created here.

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The main reason dogs live such short lives is rooted in compassion for the human race. How much we suffer in the pain of losing a dog after ten or twelve years of acquaintance... Imagine how we would feel if we lost them after twice as long.

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It happens (...) that one learns about what is there by first finding out what is not there.

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Sometimes I wonder why it is that a person can only indulge in his favorite pastimes and passions at the cost of sacrificing a happy state of rest, even though according to Horace, otium is the main desire of all created souls throughout the world; and the hours of undisturbed rest, from which we part with so much difficulty at the call of duty or necessity, why do we wish to exchange them for excitement, just when we could spend our time as we please.

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The theme is just like the sensation: repetition wears it out.

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The hand of a tyrant who knows the law is restrained by the fear of punishment, but no law can prevent the reckless violence of the unconscious rebel.

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The primary goal of civilization is to ensure the general protection provided by equally applied laws, instead of arbitrary judging, the measure of which is adjusted by each to the length of his sword and the strength of his arm. This is how the law speaks to citizens, and only God's is holier than its words: "Vengeance is mine."

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The only thing that connects those sleeping down there to us is that they were once like us, and as their earthly remains have already mixed with the mother earth, the same fate awaits us.

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My hours are like the late ears of autumn, and your days like the sowing of spring. Still, it may happen that you will be harvested by Death before me, since his scythe cuts off the stubble as well as the vine.

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I am fed up with seeing nothing but frenzied, raging violence around me, which sometimes takes on the guise of legal authority and sometimes manifests itself in the guise of religious zeal.

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It is true that the pastors say the same words over and over again, but I don't mind; if they are good words, why not repeat them? That way, at least the common man can understand it more easily. Not everyone's mind is that fast.

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The most romantic landscape of any country is where the mountains meet the plains, the lowlands... and the most picturesque periods of history are those where the rough and wild customs of a barbarian period are being renewed.