A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Source: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819)
Author
American · 1783-1859 · 10 quotes
American · 1783–1859
10 quotes in our collection
Washington Irving (1783-1859) was an American essayist, historian, biographer, and short story writer who helped give early American literature an international audience. His best-known works include The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, which contains Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, along with Bracebridge Hall, Tales of the Alhambra, and biographies of George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Irving matters because he blended European literary tradition with American settings, humor, nostalgia, and folklore. He helped shape the short story as an American form and gave national memory some of its most enduring figures. His prose is graceful, sentimental, ironic, and attentive to domestic custom and seasonal ritual. Irving's quotes often reflect warmth, social observation, grief, age, hospitality, and the emotional power of memory. His influence remains visible wherever American storytelling mixes legend with gentle satire.
Collected Quotes
A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it.
History fades into fable; fact becomes clouded with doubt and controversy.
There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity, that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble.
Language gradually varies, and with it fade away the writings of authors who have flourished their allotted time.