For my part, I love to give myself up to the illusion of poetry. A hero of fiction that never existed is just as valuable to me as a hero of history that existed a thousand years ago.

— Washington Irving

Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.

— Washington Irving

Great minds have purposes others have wishes.

— Washington Irving

Great minds have purposes others have wishes.

— Washington Irving

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

— Washington Irving

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

— Washington Irving

Here's to your good health and your family's good health and may you all live long and prosper.

— Washington Irving

Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine - no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.

— 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.

— Washington Irving

How 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