Quotes from book
The Compleat Angler

Name: The Compleat Angler
Author: Izaak Walton

Izaak Walton Original title The Compleat Angler. Or The Contemplative Man's Recreation (British English, 1653)

The Compleat Angler is a book by Izaak Walton. It was first published in 1653 by Richard Marriot in London.

“Sir Henry Wotton was a most dear lover and a frequent practiser of the Art of Angling; of which he would say, "'T was an employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness;" and "that it begat habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practised it."”

Izaak Walton book The Compleat Angler

Part I, ch. 1.
The Compleat Angler (1653-1655)

“I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning.”

Izaak Walton book The Compleat Angler

Part I, ch. 5.
The Compleat Angler (1653-1655)

“Doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself.”

Izaak Walton book The Compleat Angler

Part I, ch. 1. Compare: "Virtue is her own reward", John Dryden, Tyrannic Love, act iii, scene 1; "Virtue is to herself the best reward", Henry More, Cupid's Conflict; "Virtue is its own reward", Matthew Prior, Imitations of Horace, book iii. ode 2; John Gay, Epistle to Methuen; Home, Douglas, act iii, scene 1. "Virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness", Diogenes Laertius, Plato, xlii; "Ipsa quidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces" ("Virtue herself is her own fairest reward"), Silius Italicus (25?–99): Punica, lib. xiii. line 663.
The Compleat Angler (1653-1655)

“Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so”

Izaak Walton book The Compleat Angler

Part I, ch. 1.
The Compleat Angler (1653-1655)
Context: Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so: I mean, with inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse and practice