John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 207
| Izaak Walton. (1593–1683) (continued) |
| 2322 |
| I shall stay him no longer than to wish him a rainy evening to read this following discourse; and that if he be an honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a fishing. |
| The Complete Angler. Author’s Preface. |
| 2323 |
| As the Italians say, Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter. |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2324 |
| I am, sir, a Brother of the Angle. |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2325 |
| It [angling] deserves commendations;… it is an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man. |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2326 |
| Angling is somewhat like poetry,—men are to be born so. |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2327 |
| Doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself. 1 |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2328 |
| Sir Henry Wotton was a most dear lover and a frequent practiser of the Art of Angling; of which he would say, “’T was an employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness;” and “that it begat habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practised it.” |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2329 |
| You will find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings attending upon it. |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. i. |
| 2330 |
| I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, “That which is everybody’s business is nobody’s business.” |
| The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. ii. |
| Note 1. Virtue is her own reward.—John Dryden: Tyrannic Love, act iii. sc. 1. Virtue is to herself the best reward.—Henry More: Cupid’s Conflict. Virtue is its own reward.—Matthew Prior: Imitations of Horace, book iii. ode 2. John Gay: Epistle to Methuen. Home: Douglas, act iii. sc. 1. Virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness.—Diogenes Laertius: Plato, xlii. Ipsa quidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces (Virtue herself is her own fairest reward).—Silius Italicus (25?–99): Punica, lib. xiii. line 663. [back] |