Ivanhoe - Walter Scott

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.

Trial moves rapidly on when the judge has determined the sentence beforehand.

"Courtesy of tongue," said Rowena, "when it is used to veil churlishness of deed, is but a knight's girdle around the breast of a base clown."

...how easy it is for the tongue to betray what the heart would gladly conceal.

The single drop of rain which mixes with the sea becomes an individual part of that resistless ocean, which undermines rocks and ingulfs royal armadas.

Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives!—Fight on—death is better than defeat!—Fight on, brave knights!—for bright eyes behold your deeds!

If thou readest the Scripture and the lives of the saints, only to justify thine own license and profligacy, thy crime is like that of him who extracts poison from the most healthful and necessary herbs.

I have heard men talk of the blessings of freedom," he said to himself, "but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it.

...since the difficulties which render it arduous render it also glorious.

Adversity bends the heart as fire bends the stubborn steel.

It was better, though scarce easier, to be the best man among a hundred, than the best man of two.