Washington Irving

“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.”

“Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.”

“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.”

“Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.”

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

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

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

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

“There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard.”

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

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

“There is certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place.”

“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.”