Quote #42

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

More from Washington Irving

  1. The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection, and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.
  2. 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 …
  3. The easiest thing to do, whenever you fail, is to put yourself down by blaming your lack of ability for your misfortunes.
  4. There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others however humble.
  5. Some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through …
  6. 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…
  7. Society is like a lawn where every roughness is smoothed, every bramble eradicated, and where the eye is delighted by the smiling verdure o…
  8. Resolved - never to do anything which I should be afraid to do, if it were my last of life.

All Washington Irving quotes