01c. 1821 ADIn the present day, when popular literature is running into the low levels of life, and luxuriating on the vices and follies of mankind; and when the universal pursuit of gain is trampling down the early growth of poetic feeling, and wearing out the verdure of the soul, I question whether it would not be of service for the reader occasionally to turn to these records of prouder times and loftier modes of thinking; and to steep himself to the very lips in old Spanish romance.Washington Irving / quote ↗
02c. 1821 ADSome minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the poet to become tender and imaginitive in the loneliness of confinement. He banquets upon the honey of his own thoughts, and, like the captive bird, pours forth his soul in melody.Washington Irving / quote ↗
03c. 1821 ADHe is indeed the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.Washington Irving / quote ↗
04c. 1821 ADTo the traveller imbued with a feeling for the historical and poetical, so inseparately interwined in the annals of romantic Spain, the Alhambra is a much an object of devotion as is the Caaba to all true Moslems. How many legends and traditions, true and fabulous, - how many songs and ballards, Arabian and Spanish, of love and war and chivalry, are associated with this Oriental pile!Washington Irving / quote ↗
05c. 1821 ADThe scholar only knows how dear these silent, yet eloquent, companions of pure thoughts and innocent hours become in the season of adversity. When all that is worldly turns to dross around us, these only retain their steady value.Washington Irving / quote ↗
06c. 1821 ADOn mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless!--but his horror was still more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!Washington Irving / quote ↗
07c. 1821 ADMy object is merely to give the reader a general introduction into an abode where, if so disposed, he may linger and loiter with me day by day until we gradually become familiar with all its localities.Washington Irving / quote ↗
08c. 1821 ADIt is worthy to note, that the early popularity of Washington was not the result of brilliant achievement nor signal success; on the contrary, it rose among trials and reverses, and may almost be said to have been the fruit of defeat.Washington Irving / quote ↗
09c. 1821 ADThere is, perhaps, no class of men on the face of the earth, says Captain Bonneville, who lead a life of more continued exertion, peril, and excitement, and who are more enamored of their occupations, than the free trappers of the West. No tail, no danger, no privation can turn the trapper from his pursuit. His passionate excitement at times resembles mania. In vain may the most vigilant and cruel savages best his path, in vain may rocks and precipices and wintry torrents oppose his progress, let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and he forgets all the dangers and defies all difficulties. At times, he may be seen with his traps on his shoulder, buffeting his way across rapid streams, amidst floating blocks of ice: at other times, he is to be found with his traps swung on his back clambering the most rugged mountains, scaling or descending the most frightful precipices, searching, by routes inaccessible to the horse, and never before trodden by white man, for springs and lakes unknown to his comrades, and where he may meet with his favorite game. Such is the mountaineer, the hardy trapper of the West, and such, as we have slightly sketched it, is the wild, Robin Hood kind of life, with all its strange and motley populace, now existing in full vigor among the Rocky Mountains.Washington Irving / quote ↗
10c. 1821 ADA mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.Washington Irving / quote ↗
11c. 1821 ADChristmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.Washington Irving / quote ↗
12c. 1821 ADNo! no! My engagement is with no bride--the worms! the worms expect me! I am a dead man--I have been slain by robbers--my body lies at Wurtzburg--at midnight I am to be buried--the grave is waiting for me--I must keep my appointment!Washington Irving / quote ↗
13c. 1821 ADHow easy is it for one benevolent being to diffuse pleasure around him, and how truly is a kind heart a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.Washington Irving / quote ↗
14c. 1821 ADIt is almost startling to hear this warning of departed time sounding among the tombs, and telling the lapse of the hour, which, like a billow, has rolled us onward towards the grave.Washington Irving / quote ↗
15c. 1821 ADSome minds seem almost to create themselves springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles.Washington Irving / quote ↗
16c. 1821 ADThere is a certain relief in change even though it be from bad to worse as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.Washington Irving / quote ↗
17c. 1821 ADThere is a certain relief in change even though it be from bad to worse as I have found in travelling in a stagecoach that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.Washington Irving / quote ↗
19c. 1821 ADThere 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 messengers of overwhelming grief. . . and unspeakable love.Washington Irving / quote ↗
20c. 1821 ADLove is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.Washington Irving / quote ↗
21c. 1821 ADThe idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection and will in turn be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.Washington Irving / quote ↗
22c. 1821 ADMan passes away his name perishes from record and recollection his history is as a tale that is told and his very monument becomes a ruin.Washington Irving / quote ↗
23c. 1821 ADHere's to your good health and your family's good health and may you all live long and prosper.Washington Irving / quote ↗
24c. 1821 ADThere 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.Washington Irving / quote ↗
