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A rusted nail, placed near the faithful compass, Will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.

Walter Scott

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Walter Scott
Age: 61 †
Born: 1771
Born: August 15
Died: 1832
Died: September 21
Baronet Scott
Biographer
Historian
Judge
Lawyer
Linguist
Literary Critic
Musicologist
Novelist
Playwright
Poet
Poet Lawyer
Translator
Edinburgh
Scotland
Walter Skott
Jedediah Cleishbotham
Laurence Templeton
Somnambulus
Malachi Malagrowther
Sir Walter Scott
Bart.
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott
1st Baronet
Great Magician
The Great Unknown
Compass
Nails
Placed
Rusted
Association
Swaying
Faithful
Sway
Near
Wreck
Truth
Nail
Wrecks

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Here eglantine embalm'd the air, Hawthorne and hazel mingled there The primrose pale, and violet flower, Found in each cliff a narrow bower Fox-glove and nightshade, side by side, Emblems of punishment and pride, Group'd their dark hues with every stain The weather-beaten crags retain.
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Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges
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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.
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The most learned, acute, and diligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume.
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Ridicule, the weapon of all others most feared by enthusiasts of every description, and which from its predominance over such minds, often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.
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Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.
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One or two of these scoundrel statesmen should be shot once a-year, just to keep the others on their good behavior.
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A good deal of philanthropy arises in general from mere vanity and love of distinction gilded over to others and to themselves with some show of benevolent sentiment.
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A glass of good wine is a gracious creature, and reconciles poor mortality to itself and that is what few things can do.
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A ruin should always be protected but never repaired - thus may we witness full the lingering legacies of the past.
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He who indulges his sense in any excesses renders himself obnoxious to his own reason and, to gratify the brute in him, displeases the man, and sets his two natures at variance.
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Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer.
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Teach you children poetry it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.
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Still from the sire the son shall hear Of the stern strife, and carnage drear, Of Flodden's fatal field, When shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was her shield!
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When Israel, of the Lord belov'd, Out of the land of bondage came, Her fathers' God before her mov'd, An awful guide in smoke and flame.
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The heart-sick faintness of the hope delayed!
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A sound head, an honest heart, and an humble spirit are the three best guides through time and to eternity.
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It was in the beginning of the month of November, 17--, when a young English gentleman, who had just left the university of Oxford, made use of the liberty afforded him, to visit some parts of the north of England and curiosity extended his tour into the adjacent frontier of the sister country.
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Vengeance to God alone belongs But, when I think of all my wrongs My blood is liquid flame!
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I'll dream no more--by mainly mind Not even in sleep is well resigned. My midnight orisons said o'er, I'll turn to rest and dream no more.
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