Walter Scott Quotes (151 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

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The Bride of Lammermoor

Walter Scott

Walter Scott: 151 quotes 10 likes

Famous Walter Scott Quotes

“O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto VI, st. 17.
Variant: Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive
Source: Marmion (1808)

“Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives! Fight on; death is better than defeat! Fight on brave knights! for bright eyes behold your deeds!”

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 book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 33, The Black Knight speaking to Locksley.

“The rose is fairest when 't is budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.
The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.”

Walter Scott

Canto IV, stanza 1.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

“Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.”

Walter Scott

“Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, and men below, and the saints above, for love is heaven, and heaven is love.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto III, stanza 2.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
Context: 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 Quotes about men

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

Walter Scott

Letter to J. G. Lockhart (c. 16 June 1830), in H. J. C. Grierson (ed.), Letters of Sir Walter Scott, Vol. II (1936), as reported in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999), p. 652

“I have heard men talk about the blessings of freedom," he said to himself, "but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe

“It's no fish ye're buying, it's men's lives.”

Walter Scott book The Antiquary

Volume I, Ch. 11.
The Antiquary (1816)

“One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honour or observation.”

Walter Scott

Countess Brenhilda in Count Robert of Paris (1832), Ch. 25.

“Thus aged men, full loth and slow,
The vanities of life forego,
And count their youthful follies o'er,
Till Memory lends her light no more.”

Walter Scott book Rokeby

Canto V, stanza 1.
Rokeby (1813)

“But woe awaits a country when
She sees the tears of bearded men.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto V, stanza 16.
Marmion (1808)

Walter Scott Quotes about love

“[Romeo … transfers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet] 'A lover, my dear Lady Betty,' said Flora, 'may, I conceive, persevere in his suit, under very discouraging circumstances. Affection can (now and then) withstand very severe storms of rigour, but not a long polar frost of downright indifference. Don't, even with your attractions, try the experiment upon any lover whose faith you value. Love will subsist on wonderfully little hope, but not altogether without it.”

Walter Scott book Waverley

Source: Waverley (1814), Chapter LIV

“So shall he strive, in changeful hue,
Field, feast, and combat, to renew,
And loves, and arms, and harpers' glee,
And all the pomp of chivalry.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto V, introduction.
Marmion (1808)

“Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto III, stanza 24.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

“So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto V, st. 12 (Lochinvar, st. 1).
Marmion (1808)

“Thy hue, dear pledge, is pure and bright
As in that well-remember'd night
When first thy mystic braid was wove,
And first my Agnes whisper'd love.”

Walter Scott

To a Lock of Hair http://www.bartleby.com/106/105.html.

“T is an old tale and often told;
But did my fate and wish agree,
Ne'er had been read, in story old,
Of maiden true betray'd for gold,
That loved, or was avenged, like me.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto II, stanza 27.
Marmion (1808)

Walter Scott: Trending quotes

“Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening.”

Walter Scott

Death , Sleep

“Revenge is the sweetest morsel to the mouth, that ever was cooked in hell.”

Walter Scott

The Heart of Midlothian', Ch. 30 (1818).
Source: The Heart of Mid-Lothian

Hell , Revenge , Cooking

“The will to do, the soul to dare”

Walter Scott

Canto I, stanza 21.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)
Context: 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.

Soul

Walter Scott Quotes

“True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto V, stanza 13.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
Context: True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven:
It is not fantasy's hot fire,
Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly;
It liveth not in fierce desire,
With dead desire it doth not die;
It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind
In body and in soul can bind.

Love , God

“Time will rust the sharpest sword,
Time will consume the strongest cord”

Walter Scott Harold the Dauntless

Harold the Dauntless (1817), Canto I, st. 4.
Context: Time will rust the sharpest sword,
Time will consume the strongest cord;
That which molders hemp and steel,
Mortal arm and nerve must feel.

Time

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

Walter Scott

New Year , Age , Time

“Many a law, many a commandment have I broken, but my word never.”

Walter Scott

Law

“We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe

“The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?”

Walter Scott

Dogs

“I envy thee not thy faith, which is ever in thy mouth but never in thy heart nor in thy practice”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe

Faith , Heart , Envy

“Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe

Silence

“We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.”

Walter Scott

Education , Feeling , Learning , Heart

“Will future ages believe that such stupid bigotry ever existed!”

Walter Scott

Age , Stupidity , Future

“A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.”

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott Collection Guy Mannering. Chap. xxxvii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

History , Literature , Knowledge

“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be ay sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping.”

Walter Scott book The Heart of Midlothian

The Heart of Midlothian (1818), Ch. 8.

Sleep , Tree

“There's a gude time coming.”

Walter Scott book Rob Roy

Source: Rob Roy (1817), Chapter 32.

Time

“Art thou a friend to Roderick?”

Walter Scott

Canto IV, stanza 30.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

Art

“He’s expected at noon, and no wight till he comes
May profane the great chair, or the porridge of plums;
For the best of the cheer, and the seat by the fire,
Is the undenied right of the Barefooted Friar.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 17, One of the verses of the ballad "The Barefooted Friar", sung by Friar Tuck to the Black Knight.

“Now I protest to thee, gentle reader, that I entirely dissent from Francisco de Ubeda in this matter, and hold it the most useful quality of my pen, that it can speedily change from grave to gay, and from description and dialogue to narrative and character. So that, if my quill display no other propertoies of its mothergoose than her mutability, truly I shall be well pleased; and I conceive that you, my worthy friend, will have no occasion for discontent. From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. It is an important examination, and therefore, like Dogberry, we must spare no wisdom.”

Walter Scott book Waverley

Source: Waverley (1814), Chapter XIX

Wisdom , Change

“But with the morning cool reflection came.”

Walter Scott book Chronicles of the Canongate

Chronicles of the Canongate, Chap. iv.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“O! many a shaft at random sent
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken!”

Walter Scott The Lord of the Isles

Canto V, stanza 18.
The Lord of the Isles (1815)

Heart

“A foot more light, a step more true,
Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew.”

Walter Scott

Canto I, stanza 18.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

Flowers , Light

“Chivalry!-why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection-the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant-Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 29, Ivanhoe explains to Rebecca the virtues of chivalry.

“O fading honours of the dead!
O high ambition, lowly laid!”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto II, stanza 10.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Dead

“In man's most dark extremity
Oft succour dawns from Heaven.”

Walter Scott The Lord of the Isles

Canto I, stanza 20.
The Lord of the Isles (1815)

“Vacant heart, and hand, and eye,
Easy live and quiet die.”

Walter Scott book The Bride of Lammermoor

The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Ch. 3 - Lucy Ashton's Song.

Heart

“Bluid is thicker than water.”

Walter Scott book Guy Mannering

Guy Mannering (1815), Ch. 38.

Water

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

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto II, stanza 22.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Truth

“No pale gradations quench his ray,
No twilight dews his wrath allay.”

Walter Scott book Rokeby

Canto VI, stanza 21.
Rokeby (1813)

“Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!”

Walter Scott

Canto II, stanza 19.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

“Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.”

Walter Scott

Canto I, stanza 31.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

Dreams , Sleep , Night

“In the lost battle,
Borne down by the flying,
Where mingles war's rattle
With groans of the dying.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto III, stanza 11.
Marmion (1808)

War , Flying

“Randolph, thy wreath has lost a rose.”

Walter Scott The Lord of the Isles

Canto VI, stanza 18.
The Lord of the Isles (1815)

“Pride and jealousy there was in his eye, for his life had been spent in asserting rights which were constantly liable to invasion; and the prompt, fiery, and resolute disposition of the man, had been kept constantly upon the alert by the circumstances of his situation.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 3.

Life , Jealousy

“There is yet spirit in him, were it well directed- but, like the Greek fire, it burns whatever approaches it.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 43, Malvoisin to Mont-Fitchet

“Spangling the wave with lights as vain
As pleasures in the vale of pain,
That dazzle as they fade.”

Walter Scott The Lord of the Isles

Canto I, stanza 23.
The Lord of the Isles (1815)

Pain , Pleasure , Light

“The playbill, which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out.”

Walter Scott book The Talisman

The Talisman (1825), Introduction.

“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 The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Introduction
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Way

“Ah! County Guy, the hour is nigh,
The sun has left the lea.”

Walter Scott book Quentin Durward

Quentin Durward (1823), Ch. 4.

Guy , Sun

“She look'd down to blush, and she look'd up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto V, st. 12 (Lochinvar, st. 5).
Marmion (1808)

Smile , Tear

“There is no European nation which, within the course of half a century, or little more, has undergone so complete a change as this kingdom of Scotland. The effects of the insurrection of the 1745 — the destruction of the patriarchal power of the Highland chiefs — the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions of the Lowland nobility and barons — the total eradication of the Jacobite party […]. […] This race has now almost entirely vanished from the land, and with it, doubtless, much absurd political prejudice — but also many living examples of singular ad disinterested attachment to the principles of loyalty which they received from their fathers, and of old Scottish faith, hospitality, worth, and honour. […] for the purpose of preserving some idea of the ancient manners of which I have witnessed the almost total extinction, I have embodied in imaginary scenes […].”

Walter Scott book Waverley

Source: Waverley (1814), Chapter LXXII, A postscript, which should have been a preface

Faith , Idea , Change , Loyalty

“I was not always a man of woe.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto II, stanza 12.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

“But search the land of living men,
Where wilt thou find their like again?”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto I, introduction, st. 11.
Marmion (1808)

Men , Search

“November’s sky is chill and drear,
November’s leaf is red and sear.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto I, introduction, st. 1.
Marmion (1808)

“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 book The Heart of Midlothian

The Heart of Midlothian (1818), Ch. 4.

Men

“Respect was mingled with surprise,
And the stern joy which warriors feel
In foeman worthy of their steel.”

Walter Scott

Canto V, stanza 10.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

Feeling , Joy

“"Lambe them, lads! lambe them!" a cant phrase of the time derived from the fate of Dr. Lambe, an astrologer and quack, who was knocked on the head by the rabble in Charles the First's time.”

Walter Scott book Peveril of the Peak

Peveril of the Peak, Chap. xlii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Fate , Time

“Profan'd the God-given strength, and marr'd the lofty line.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto I, introduction.
Marmion (1808)

God

“War's a fearsome thing. They'll be cunning that catches me at this wark again.”

Walter Scott book Old Mortality

Old Mortality, Volume II (1816), Chapter XI.

War

“Rouse the lion from his lair.”

Walter Scott book The Talisman

The Talisman (1825), Heading, Ch. 6.

“Tell that to the marines—the sailors won't believe it.”

Walter Scott book Redgauntlet

Redgauntlet, Vol. II (1824), Ch. 13 http://books.google.com/books?id=ixkGAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Tell+that+to+the+marines+the+sailors+won't+believe+it%22&pg=PA326#v=onepage.