Washington Irving

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above them.

Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.

A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.

An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more.

He is the true enchanter whose spell operates not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.

I am always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories.

A woman's whole life is a history of the affections.

The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance but like all other landscapes the charm fades on a nearer approach and the thorns and briars become visible.

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.

Temper never mellows with age and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is to little.

The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use.

There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.

Age is a matter of feeling not of years.

After all it is the divinity within that makes the divinity without, and I have been more fascinated by a woman of talent and intelligence though deficient in personal charms than I have been by the most regular beauty.

Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad who are under the discipline of shrews at home.

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.