Home / Authors / Washington Irving

Washington Irving Quotes

Author

Washington Irving was an American author known for his significant contributions to American literature. His works, including 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and 'Rip Van Winkle', have had a profound impact on American literature.

Filter quotes by topic

All Men Heart Mind May Thinking World Character Mother Seems Writing Adversity Love Children Forests Kind Language Literature Littles Merry Pure

Famous Washington Irving Quotes

“I could not but smile to think in what out-of-the-way corners genius produces her bantlings! And the Muses, those capricious dames, who, forsooth, so often refuse to visit palaces, and deny a single smile to votaries in splendid studies, and gilded drawing-rooms--what holes and burrows will they frequent to lavish their favors on some ragged disciple!”

Thinking Way Rooms Study Produce Genius Refuse Corners Deny Drawing Favors Holes Muse Disciple Palaces Splendid Capricious Dames Ragged Gilded

Book:The Complete Tales of Washington Irving

Source: The Complete Tales of Washington Irving

“How idle a boast, after all, is the immortality of a name! Time is ever silently turning over his pages; we are too much engrossed by the story of the present to think of the character and anecdotes that gave interest to the past; and each age is a volume thrown aside and forgotten.”

Thinking Character Stories Age Past Names Interest Too Much Pages Forgotten Immortality Thrown Volume Idle Boast Anecdotes

Book:The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Source: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

“He that drinks beer, thinks beer.”

Thinking Drink Humorous Beer

Author:Washington Irving

“There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the cultivation of forest trees. It argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature to have his strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. He who plants a tree looks forward to future ages, and plants for posterity. Nothing could be less selfish than this.”

Thinking Looks Age Strong Simple Tree Son Sweet Taste Pure Plant Arguing Selfish Forests Generous Glorious Posterity Relish Cultivation Hardy Plant A Tree Vegetation

Author:Washington Irving

“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; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother still loves on, and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil ways, and repent; still she remembers the infant smiles that once filled her bosom with rapture, the merry laugh, the joyful shout of his childhood, the opening promise of his youth; and she can never be brought to think him all unworthy.”

“He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner. He tries to compress as much thought as possible into a few words. On the contrary, the man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them.”

Thinking Men Trying Littles Ideas Seems Language Sound Style He Man Direct Crowds Contrary Magazines Proportion Explicit Few Words

Author:Washington Irving

“Redundancy of language is never found with deep reflection. Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts.”

Thinking May Littles Found Language Style Reflection Observation Proportion Redundancy

Author:Washington Irving

“He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner.”

Thinking Littles Ideas Language Silence Direct Proportion Explicit

Author:Washington Irving

“They who drink beer will think beer.”

“To look upon its grass grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, one would think that there at least the dead might rest in peace.”

Thinking Looks Seems Might Sleep Grass Yards Rest In Peace Sunbeams

Book:Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Source: Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

“I sometimes think one of the great blessings we shall enjoy in heaven, will be to receive letters by every post and never be obliged to reply to them.”

Thinking Sometimes Heaven Enjoy Blessing Letters Posts Obliged

Book:Works of Washington Irving

Source: Works of Washington Irving

“There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to draw in the May morning of life, when as yet I only knew the world through books, and believed it to be all that poets had painted it; and they bring with them the flavour of those honest days of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, I am apt to think the world was more home-bred, social, and joyous than at present.”

Source: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Esq. (Wasington Irving)