25 Sir Walter Scott Quotes From the Legendary Author

By Stephanie Kirby | Published September 12, 2023

To learn more about a man who has impacted people for centuries, take a look at these Sir Walter Scott quotes!

Sir Walter Scott was not only a famous author but also a historian, a poet, and a playwright.

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1771 and died in Abbotsford, Scotland, in 1832 at the age of 61.

Scott developed polio when only two and was sent to the countryside estate of his grandparents in order to improve the lameness he suffered from.

There, his aunt Jenny took special interest in him and helped him learn to read, write, and walk.

When he returned to his parents at the age of eight, he could walk well, although he always had a limp, and was educated enough to go to a special school.

Scott loved romantic literature and began writing and would write for the remainder of his life.

Some of his best-known works are Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Bride of Lammermoor, and the book of poems called The Lady of the Lake.

Take a look at these Sir Walter Scott quotes to learn more about the famous author.

Best Sir Walter Scott Quotes

Here are some of Sir Walter Scott’s best quotes.

1. “Too much rest is rust.” — Sir Walter Scott

2. “I was not always a man of woe.” — Sir Walter Scott

3. “Sleep in peace, and wake in joy.” — Sir Walter Scott

4. “Oh, poverty parts good company.” — Sir Walter Scott

5. “Time will rust the sharpest sword.” — Sir Walter Scott

6. “Cats are a mysterious kind of folk.” — Sir Walter Scott

7. “Look back, and smile on perils past.” — Sir Walter Scott

8. “Time will consume the strongest cord.” — Sir Walter Scott

9. “War is the only game in which both sides lose.” — Sir Walter Scott

10. “For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” — Sir Walter Scott

Classic Sir Walter Scott Quotes

Check out these classic quotes and sayings from the Scottish novelist and poet.

11. “We build statues out of snow and weep to see them melt.” — Sir Walter Scott

12. “There is a southern proverb—fine words butter no parsnips.” — Sir Walter Scott

13. “Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening.” — Sir Walter Scott

14. “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!” — Sir Walter Scott

15. “Many a law, many a commandment have I broken, but my word never.” — Sir Walter Scott

16. “To all, to each, a fair good-night, and pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.” — Sir Walter Scott

17. “What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.” — Sir Walter Scott

More Sir Walter Scott Quotes

Enjoy some more of the best Sir Walter Scott quotes.

18. “Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, and men below, and saints above.” — Sir Walter Scott

19. “Tears are the softening showers which cause the seed of heaven to spring up in the human heart.” — Sir Walter Scott

20. “A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass will sway it from the truth and wreck the argosy.” — Sir Walter Scott

21. “All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.” — Sir Walter Scott

22. “Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.” — Sir Walter Scott

23. “Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom, and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.” — Sir Walter Scott

24. “For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs but for the evil which he forbears.” — Sir Walter Scott

25. “A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.” — Sir Walter Scott