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| 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. A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles. A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use. A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. A woman never forgets her sex. She would rather talk with a man than an angel, any day. A woman's life is a history of the affections. A woman's whole life is a history of the affections. Acting provides the fulfillment of never being fulfilled. You're never as good as you'd like to be. So there's always something to hope for. After a man passes sixty, his mischief is mainly in his head. 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. Age is a matter of feeling, not of years. 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. As I sat on a sunny bank On Christmas day in the morning I spied three ships come sailing in. Christmas! 'Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart. Free livers on a small scale; who are prodigal within the compass of a guinea. Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.He is the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart. Here's to your good health, and your family's good health, and may you all live long and prosper. His very faults smack of the raciness of his good qualities. Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant. I am always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories. I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories. In civilized life, where the happiness and indeed almost the existence of man, depends on the opinion of his fellow men. He is constantly acting a studied part. It is not poverty so much as pretense that harasses a ruined man – the struggle between a proud mind and an empty purse – the keeping up of a hollow show that must soon come to an end. It was the policy of the good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the happiest place in the world; and I value this delicious home feeling as one of the choicest gifts a parent can bestow. Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them. Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart. Marriage is the torment of one, the felicity of two, the strife and enmity of three. My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me. Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is to little. One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more. Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do, if it were my last of life. Rising genius always shoots out its rays from among the clouds, but these will gradually roll away and disappear as it ascends to its steady luster. Society is like a lawn where every roughness is smoothed, every bramble eradicated, and where the eye is delighted by the smiling verdure of a velvet surface. Some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles. Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. Temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. The almighty Dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land. The easiest thing to do, whenever you fail, is to put yourself down by blaming your lack of ability for your misfortunes. The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow. 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. The moon of the whip-poor-will from the hillside; the boding cry of the tree-toad, that harbinger of storm; the dreary hooting of the screechowl. The natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate the mind. The natural principle of war is to do the most harm to our enemy with the least harm to ourselves; and this of course is to be effected by stratagem. The tongue is the only instrument that gets sharper with use. There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others however humble. There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations. There is in every true 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. 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. There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard. Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old. Who ever hears of fat men heading a riot, or herding together in turbulent mobs? No – no, your lean, hungry men who are continually worrying society, and setting the whole community by the ears. Young lawyers attend the courts, not because they have business there, but because they have no business. Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother's secret hope outlives them all! [Man's] history is a tale that is told, and his very monument becomes a ruin. |
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