Walter Scott quotes are thought-provoking, memorable and inspiring. From views on society and politics to thoughts on love and life, Walter Scott has a lot to say. In this list we present the 74 best Walter Scott quotes, in no particular order. Let yourself get inspired!
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Walter Scott quotes
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, and men below, and the saints above, for love is heaven, and heaven is love.
— Walter Scott
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.
— Walter Scott, Marmion
I pretend not to be a champion of that same naked virtue called truth, to the very outrance. I can consent that her charms be hidden with a veil, were it but for decency’s sake.
— Walter Scott, Kenilworth
My hope, my heaven, my trust must be, My gentle guide, in following thee.
— Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake
Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives! Fight on; death is better than defeat! Fight on brave knights! for bright eyes behold your deeds!
— Walter Scott
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
— Walter Scott
We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart.
— Walter Scott
And please return it. You may think this a strange request, but I find that although my friends are poor arithmeticians, they are nearly all of them good bookkeepers.
— Walter Scott
Perhaps the perusal of such works may, without injustice, be compared with the use of opiates, baneful, when habitually and constantly resorted to, but of most blessed power in those moments of pain and of langour, when the whole head is sore, and the whole heart sick. If those who rail indiscriminately at this species of composition, were to consider the quantity of actual pleasure it produces, and the much greater proportion of real sorrow and distress which it alleviates, their philanthropy ought to moderate their critical pride, or religious intolerance.
— Walter Scott
Colonel Talbot? he is a very disagreeable person, to be sure. He looks as if he thought no Scottish woman worth the trouble of handing her a cup of tea.
— Walter Scott, Waverley
I did not myself set a high estimation on wealth, and had the affectation of most young men of lively imagination, who suppose that they can better dispense with the possession of money, than resign their time and faculties to the labour necessary to acquire it.
— Walter Scott, Rob Roy
I will tear this folly from my heart, though every fibre bleed as I rend it away!
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
…having once seen him put forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him again among a thousand warriors. He rushes into the fray as if he were summoned to a banquet. There is more than mere strength—there seems as if the whole soul and spirit of the champion were given to every blow which he deals upon his enemies. God assoilzie him of the sin of bloodshed! It is fearful, yet magnificent, to behold how the arm and heart of one man can triumph over hundreds.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
Everything is possible for him who possesses courage and activity, ” she said, with a look resembling one of those heroines of the age of chivalry, whose encouragement was wont to give champions double valour at the hour of need; “and to the timid and hesitating, everything is impossible, because it seems so.
— Walter Scott
…having once seen him put forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him again among a thousand warriors. He rushes into the fray as if he were summoned to a banquet. There is more than mere strength–there seems as if the whole soul and spirit of the champion were given to every blow which he deals upon his enemies. God assoilzie him of the sin of bloodshed! It is fearful, yet magnificent, to behold how the arm and heart of one man can triumph over hundreds.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
so wondrous wild, the whole might seemthe scenery of a fairy dream
— Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake
I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?
— Walter Scott
One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum
— Walter Scott
Craigengelt, you are either an honest fellow in right good earnest, and I scarce know how to believe that; or you are cleverer than I took you for, and I scarce know how to believe that either.
— Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor
Thou hast had thty day, old dame, but thy sun has long been set. Thou art now the very emblem of an old warhorse turned out on the barren heath; thou hast had thy paces in thy time, but now a broken amble is the best of them.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
It was woman that taught me cruelty, and on woman therefore I have exercised it.
— Walter Scott
Look back, and smile on perils past!
— Walter Scott, The Complete Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott
He seems, in manner and rank, above the class of young men who take that turn; but I remember hearing them say, that the little theatre at Fairport was to open with the performance of a young gentleman, being his first appearance on any stage.—If this should be thee, Lovel!—Lovel? yes, Lovel or Belville are just the names which youngsters are apt to assume on such occasions—on my life, I am sorry for the lad.
— Walter Scott, The Antiquary
The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go downTo the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
— Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel 1805
In the wide pile, by others heeded not, Hers was one sacred solitary spot, Whose gloomy aisles and bending shelves containFor moral hunger food, and cures for moral pain.
— Walter Scott, Rob Roy
We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.
— Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian
Revenge is a feast for thegods!
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
A Christmas gambol oft could cheerThe poor man’s heart through half the year.
— Walter Scott
Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.
— Walter Scott
Of this fickle temper he gave a memorable example in Ireland, when sent thither by his father, Henry the Second, with the purpose of buying golden opinions of the inhabitants of that new and important acquisition to the English crown. Upon this occasion the Irish chieftains contended which should first offer to the young Prince their loyal homage and the kiss of peace. But, instead of receiving their salutations with courtesy, John and his petulant attendants could not resist the temptation of pulling the long beards of the Irish chieftains; a conduct which, as might have been expected, was highly resented by these insulted dignitaries, and produced fatal consequences to the English domination in Ireland. It is necessary to keep these inconsistencies of John’s character in view, that the reader may understand his conduct during the present evening.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
No word of commiseration can make a burden feel one feather’s weight lighter to the slave who must carry it.
— Walter Scott, Rob Roy
PatriotismBreathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, ‘This is my own, my native land!’ Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d As home his footsteps he hath turn’dFrom wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no Minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.
— Walter Scott
Wounds sustained for the sake of conscience carry their own balsam with the blow.
— Walter Scott, Rob Roy
Those who remarked in the countenance of this young hero a dissolute audacity mingled with extreme haughtiness … could not yet deny to his countenance that sort of comeliness which belongs to an open set of features, well formed by nature, modeled by art to the usual rules of courtesy, yet so far frank and honest, that they seemed as if they disclaimed to conceal the natural working of the soul.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
But there stands the sword of my ancestor Sir Richard Vernon, slain at Shrewsbury, and sorely slandered by a sad fellow called Will Shakspeare, whose Lancastrian partialities, and a certain knack at embodying them, has turned history upside down, or rather inside out.
— Walter Scott
Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.
— Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel 1805
Meantime the clang of the bows and the shouts of the combatants mixed fearfully with the sound of the trumpets, and drowned the groans of those who fell, and lay rolling defenceless beneath the feet of the horses. The splendid armour of the combatants was now defaced with dust and blood, and gave way at every stroke of the sword and battle-axe. The gay plumage, shorn from the crests, drifted upon the breeze like snowflakes. All that was beautiful in the martial array had disappeared, and what was now visibke was only calculated to awaken terror or compassion.
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
Oh, many a shaft at random sentFinds mark the archer little meant!And many a word at random spokenMay soothe, or wound, a heart that’s broken!
— Walter Scott
He that climbs a ladder must begin at the first round.
— Walter Scott
Cutting honest throats by whispers.
— Walter Scott
The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.
— Walter Scott
Is death the last sleep? No it is the last final awakening.
— Walter Scott
One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name.
— Walter Scott
The sickening pang of hope deferr’d.
— Walter Scott
One hour of life crowded to the full with glorious action and filled with noble risks is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum.
— Walter Scott
And love is loveliest when embalm’d in tears.
— Walter Scott
To all to each a fair good night And pleasing dreams and slumbers light.
— Walter Scott
Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said This is my own my native land!
— Walter Scott
I cannot tell how the truth may be I say the tale as ’twas said to me.
— Walter Scott
O Caledonia! stern and wild Meet nurse for a poetic child! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood Land of the mountain and the flood Land of my sires! what mortal hand Can e’er untie the filial band That knits me to thy rugged strand!
— Walter Scott
To all to each a fair goodnight And pleasing dreams and slumbers light.
— Walter Scott
Her blue eyes sought the west afar For lovers love the western star.
— Walter Scott
Welcome as the flowers in May.
— Walter Scott
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
Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.
— Walter Scott
For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.
— Walter Scott
To all, to each, a fair good-night, and pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.
— Walter Scott
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.
— Walter Scott
Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.
— Walter Scott
O! many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word, at random spoken, May soothe or wound a heart that’s broken!
— Walter Scott
It is wonderful what strength of purpose and boldness and energy of will are roused by the assurance that we are doing our duty.
— Walter Scott
Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer.
— Walter Scott
A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.
— Walter Scott
The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt.
— Walter Scott
He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.
— Walter Scott
One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.
— Walter Scott
A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
— Walter Scott
Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
— Walter Scott
O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!
— Walter Scott
Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.
— Walter Scott
Look back, and smile on perils past.
— Walter Scott
Success – keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.
— Walter Scott
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above: For love is heaven, and heaven is love.
— Walter Scott
When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
— Walter Scott
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