He is the best sailor who can steer within the fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.

— Walter Scott

Her blue eyes sought the west afar For lovers love the western star.

— Walter Scott

He seems, in manner and rank, above the class of young men who take that turn; but I remember hearing them say, that the little theater at Airport was to open with the performance of a young gentleman, being his first appearance on any stage.—If this should be thee, Love!—Love? Yes, Love or Belville are just the names which youngsters are apt to assume on such occasions—on my life, I am sorry for the lad.

— Walter Scott

He that climbs a ladder must begin at the first round.

— Walter Scott

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

— Walter Scott

I cannot tell how the truth maybe I say the tale as 'twas said to me.

— Walter Scott

I did not myself set a high estimation on wealth, and had the affectation of most young men of lively imagination, who suppose that they can better dispense with the possession of money, than resign their time and faculties to the labor necessary to acquire it.

— Walter Scott

I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives, and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?

— Walter Scott

In the wide pile, by others heeded not, Hers was one sacred solitary spot, Whose gloomy aisles and bending shelves contain For moral hunger food, and cures for moral pain.

— Walter Scott

I pretend not to be a champion of that same naked virtue called truth, to the very outrace. I can consent that her charms be hidden with a veil, where it but for decency's sake.

— Walter Scott