272 Quotes by Washington Irving

Believe me, the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, eats oftener a sweeter morsel, however coarse, than he who procures it by the labor of his brains.

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

[I]n the gloomy month of February.... The Deserts of Arabia are not more dreary and inhospitable than the streets of London at such a time...

Enthusiasts soon understand each other.

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

The love of a mother is never exhausted. It never changes - it never tires - it endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute. In the face of the world's condemnation, a mother's love still lives on.

Poetry had breathed over and sanctified the land.

There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a son that trancends all other affections of the heart

Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence.