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Walter Scott Quotes
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor.

Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scott was an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, and throughout his career combined his writing and editing work with his daily occupation as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire.

A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an active member of the Highland Society and served a long term as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

✵ 15. August 1771 – 21. September 1832
Walter Scott photo
Walter Scott: 151   quotes 10   likes

Walter Scott Quotes

“Where, where was Roderick then!
One blast upon his bugle-horn
Were worth a thousand men.”

Walter Scott

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

Men

“Heap on more wood!-the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.”

Walter Scott Marmion

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

Christmas

“When Israel, of the Lord belov'd,
Out of the land of bondage came,
Her fathers' God before her mov'd,
An awful guide in smoke and flame.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe, Chap. xxxix.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

God

“Steady of heart, and stout of hand.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto I, stanza 21.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Heart

“There is a vulgar incredulity, which in historical matters, as well as in those of religion, finds it easier to doubt than to examine.”

Walter Scott book Chronicles of the Canongate

Chronicles of the Canongate (1828), Second Series, Ch. 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=lo8nAAAAMAAJ&q=%22There+is+a+vulgar+incredulity+which+in+historical+matters+as+well+as+in+those+of+religion+finds+it+easier+to+doubt+than+to+examine%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage

Religion

“Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the West,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best.”

Walter Scott Marmion

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

“[…] a stone rolled down hill by an idle truant boy […]. Even such is the course of a narrative like that which you are perusing. The earlier events are studiously dwelt upon, that you, kind reader, may be introduced to the character rather by narrative, than by the duller mdium of direct description; but when the story drwas near its close, we hurry over the circumstances, however important, which your imagination must hvae forestalled, and leave you to suppose those things which it would be abusing your patience to relate at length.”

Walter Scott book Waverley

Source: Waverley (1814), Chapter LXX

Imagination , Boy , Patience

“Along thy wild and willow'd shore.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto IV, stanza 1.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

“And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace
Of finer form or lovelier face.”

Walter Scott

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

“Come as the winds come, when
Forests are rended,
Come as the waves come, when
Navies are stranded.”

Walter Scott

Pibroch of Donald Dhu (1816), St. 4.

“Her haughtiness and habit of domination was, therefore, a fictitious character, induced over that which was natural to her, and it deserted her when her eyes were opened to the extent of her own danger, as well as that of her lover and her guardian; and when she found her will, the slightest expression of which was wont to command respect and attention, now placed in opposition to that of a man of a strong, fierce, and determined mind, who possessed the advantage over her, and was resolved to use it, she quailed before him.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 23.

Lovers , Nature , Strong

“The Baron of Bradwardine being asked what he thought of these recruits, […] answered drily, 'that he could not but have an excellent opinion of them, since they resembled precisely the followers who attached themselves to the good King David at the cave of Adullam, vidilicet, every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, which the Vulgate renders bitter of soul;”

Walter Scott book Waverley

Source: Waverley (1814), Chapter LVII

Soul

“If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto II, stanza 1.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

“Some feelings are to mortals given
With less of earth in them than heaven;
And if there be a human tear
From passion's dross refined and clear,
A tear so limpid and so meek
It would not stain an angel's cheek,
'Tis that which pious fathers shed
Upon a duteous daughter's head!”

Walter Scott

Canto II, stanza 22.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

Angels , Feeling , Tear , Passion

“Saint George and the Dragon!-Bonny Saint George for Merry England!-The castle is won!”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 31, Wamba celebrates their victory.

“Time rolls his ceaseless course.”

Walter Scott

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

Time

“…We beg leave to transport the reader to the back-parlour of the post-master's house at Fairport, where his wife, he himself being absent, was employed in assorting for delivery the letters which had come by the Edinburgh post. This is very often in country towns the period of the day when gossips find it particularly agreeable to call on the man or woman of letters, in order, from the outside of the epistles, and, if they are not belied, occasionally from the inside also, to amuse themselves with gleaning information, or forming conjectures about the correspondence and affairs of their neighbours. Two females of this description were, at the time we mention, assisting, or impeding, Mrs. Mailsetter in her official duty.”

Walter Scott book The Antiquary

The Antiquary (1816), On the postal service

Time , Housing , Country

“Norman saw on English oak.
On English neck a Norman yoke;
Norman spoon to English dish,
And England ruled as Normans wish;
Blithe world in England never will be more,
Till England's rid of all the four.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 27, Proverb recited by Wamba to De Bracy and Front-de-Boeuf.

World

“Still are the thoughts to memory dear.”

Walter Scott book Rokeby

Canto I, stanza 33.
Rokeby (1813)

Memory

“O, Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto VI, st. 30.
Marmion (1808)

Pain , Angels , Light

“Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.”

Walter Scott

Life of Napoleon.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Stood for his country’s glory fast,
And nail’d her colours to the mast!”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto I, introduction, st. 10.
Marmion (1808)

Country

“Alas! fair Rowena," returned De Bracy, "you are in presence of your captive, not your jailor; and it is from your fair eyes that De Bracy must receive that doom which you fondly expect from him.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 23, De Bracy's vain attempt to woo Rowena using the language of courtly love.

“My dear, be a good man — be virtuous — be religious — be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here. …God bless you all.”

Walter Scott

Last words, as quoted in John Gibson Lockhart Memoirs of the life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart, Vol. VII (1838), p. 294

God , Lie

“Such is the custom of Branksome Hall.”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto I, stanza 7.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

“Ah, County Guy, the hour is nigh,
The sun has left the lea.
The orange flower perfumes the bower,
The breeze is on the sea.”

Walter Scott book Quentin Durward

Quentin Durward, Chap. iv.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Guy , Flowers , Sun , Sea

“I am she, O most bucolical juvenal, under whose charge are placed the milky mothers of the herd.”

Walter Scott book The Betrothed

The Betrothed, Chap. xxviii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.”

Walter Scott book The Monastery

Source: The Monastery (1820), Ch. 12.

Reading

“A mother's pride, a father's joy.”

Walter Scott book Rokeby

Canto III, stanza 15.
Rokeby (1813)

Joy

“"I'm no gaun to let naebody see the letter," sobbed the boy, "till I gie't to Mr. Lovel, for I am a faithfu' servant o' the office—if it werena for the powny."
"Very right, my little man," said Ochiltree, turning the reluctant pony's head towards Monkbarns; "but we'll guide him atween us." …
[They met Lovel on the way, ] and Davie, who insisted upon a literal execution of his commission by going on to Monkbarns, was with difficulty prevailed upon to surrender the packet to its proper owner, although he met him a mile nearer than the place he had been directed to. "But my minnie said, I maun be sure to get twenty shillings and five shillings for the postage, and ten shillings and sixpence for the express—there's the paper."
"Let me see—let me see," said Oldbuck, putting on his spectacles, and examining the crumpled copy of regulations to which Davie appealed. "Express, per man and horse, one day, not to exceed ten shillings and sixpence. One day? why, it's not an hour—Man and horse? why, 'tis a monkey on a starved cat!"”

Walter Scott book The Antiquary

Vol. I, Ch.15.
The Antiquary (1816), On the postal service

Way , Boy , Cats , Horse

“Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
To all the sensual world proclaim,
One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.”

Walter Scott book Old Mortality

Old Mortality, Chap. xxxiv.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Life , Age , World

“And come he slow, or come he fast,
It is but Death who comes at last.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto II, introduction, st. 30.
Marmion (1808)

Death

“The sun never sets on the immense empire of Charles V.”

Walter Scott

Life of Napoleon (February, 1807).
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Variant: The sun never sets on the immense empire of Charles V.

Sun

“Recollect that the Almighty, who gave the dog to be companion of our pleasures and our toils, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit.”

Walter Scott book The Talisman

The Talisman (1825), Ch. 24.

Pleasure , Dogs , Nature

“Oh for a blast of that dread horn
On Fontarabian echoes borne!”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto VI, stanza 33.
Marmion (1808)

“Oh, Brignal banks are wild and fair,
And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather garlands there
Would grace a summer's queen.”

Walter Scott book Rokeby

Canto III, stanza 16.
Rokeby (1813)

Summer

“Pax vobiscum will answer all queries. If you go or come, eat or drink, bless or ban, Pax vobiscum carries you through it all. It is as useful to a friar as a broom-stick to a witch, or a wand to a conjuror.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 26, Wamba explaining to Cedric how to get away with impersonating a priest. Pax vobiscum means "peace be with you".

Drink

“For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto V, st. 12 (Lochinvar, st. 2).
Marmion (1808)

Love , War , Wedding

“"What remains?" cried Ivanhoe; "Glory, maiden, glory! which gilds our sepulchre and embalms our name."”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 29, Ivanhoe to Rebecca, who questions the value of chivalry and has asked what remains for knights when death takes them.

“Spur not an unbroken horse; put not your plowshare too deep into new land.”

Walter Scott book The Monastery

Source: The Monastery (1820), Ch. 25.

Horse

“If you keep a thing seven years, you are sure to find a use for it.”

Walter Scott book Woodstock

Woodstock (1826), Ch. 28.

“To all, to each, a fair good-night,
And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light!”

Walter Scott Marmion

L'Envoy.
Marmion (1808)

Good Night , Dreams , Light , Night

“Who o'er the herd would wish to reign,
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain!
Vain as the leaf upon the stream,
And fickle as a changeful dream;
Fantastic as a woman's mood,
And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood.
Thou many-headed monster thing,
Oh who would wish to be thy king!”

Walter Scott

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

Dreams , Mood , Change

“And darest thou then
To beard the lion in his den,
The Douglas in his hall?”

Walter Scott Marmion

Canto VI, st. 14.
Marmion (1808)

“You have power, rank, command, influence; we have wealth, the source both of our strength and weakness; the value of these toys, ten times multiplied, would not influence half so much as your slightest wish.”

Walter Scott book Ivanhoe

Source: Ivanhoe (1819), Ch. 44, Rebecca speaking to Rowena.

Time , Wealth

“Where lives the man that has not tried
How mirth can into folly glide,
And folly into sin!”

Walter Scott

Bridal of Triermain, canto i. Stanza 21.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“A light on Marmion’s visage spread,
And fired his glazing eye:
With dying hand, above his head,
He shook the fragment of his blade,
And shouted "Victory!-
Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!"”

Walter Scott Marmion

Were the last words of Marmion.
Canto VI, st. 32.
Marmion (1808)

Light , Victory

“The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.”

Walter Scott book The Monastery

Answer of the Author of Waverley to the Letter of Captain Clutterbuck.
The Monastery (1820)

Happiness