Washington Irving

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.

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 natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate the mind.

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.

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

Marriage is the torment of one, the felicity of two, the strife and enmity of three.

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.

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.

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.

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more.

There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.

He is the true enchanter, whose spell operates, not upon the senses, but upon the imagination and the heart.

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.

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.

Those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home.

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

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune but great minds rise above them.

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.

Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.