Izaak Walton Quotations

God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.

Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue.

Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learned.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

I have laid aside business, and gone a'fishing.

Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.

The person that loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping.

As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.

Words are men's daughters, but God's sons are things.

That which is everybody's business is nobody's business.

I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning.

No man can lose what he never had.

In so doing, use him as though you loved him.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that money cannot buy; therefore value it, and be thankful for it.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy

We may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, ''Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did''; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

I shall stay no longer than to wish him a rainy day to read this... discourse; and that if he be an honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a-fishing.

Let me tell you that every misery I miss is a new blessing. [Not only be grateful for the good that you have but also for the bad you don't!]

An excellent angler, and now with God.

Angling may be saidtobe so likemathematics, that itcan never be fully learnt.

But God, who is ableto prevail, wrestled with him, as the Angel did with Jacob, and marked him; marked him for his own.

It [angling] deserves commendations;... it is an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.

Oh, the gallant fisher's life!It is the best of any;'T is full of pleasure, void of strife,And 't is beloved by many.

He directed that the stone over his grave be inscribed: Hic jacet hujus sententiae primus auctor: DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES.

Blessings we enjoy daily, and for most of them, because they be so common, we forget to pay our praises. But let not us, because it is a sacrifice so pleasing to Him who still protects us, and gives us flowers and showers and meat and content.

You will find angling to be like the virtue of humanity, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of blessing attending upon it.

Doubtless God Could Have Made A Better Berry, But Doubtless God Never Did

These poor rich men, we anglers pity them perfectly.

It was wisely said, by a man of great observation, that there are as many miseries beyond riches as on this side of them.

We see but the outside of a rich man's happiness; few consider him to be like the silkworm, that, when she seems to play, is at the very same time consuming herself.

Let us not repine, or so much as think the gifts of God unequally dealt, if we see another abound with riches, when, as God knows, the cares that are the keys that keep those riches hang often so heavily at the rich man's girdle that they dog him with weary days and restless nights, even when others sleep quietly.

If all the theories were correct, there wouldn't be a fish left in all of our lakes and rivers and streams.

And for winter fly-fishing it is as useful as an almanac out of date.

Let us be thankful for health and competence, and, above all, for a quiet conscience.

He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping. Therefore be sure you look to that, and in the next place look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to a good conscience.

Lord, what music hast thou provided for Thy saints in heaven, when Thou affordest bad men such music on earth!

It is agreed by most men, that the Eele is a most daintie fish; the Romans have esteemed her the Helena of their feasts, and some The Queen of pleasure.

[T]is not all fishing to fish.

The person who loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping.

There are offences given and offences not given but taken.

The will of man is by his reason swayed.

We may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

So long as thou are ignorant be not ashamed to learn. Ignorance is the greatest of all infirmities, and when justified, the chiefest of all follies.

Of this blest man, let his just praise be given, Heaven was in him, before he was in Heaven.

Old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good.

Blessings we enjoy daily, and for the most of them, because they be so common, men forget to pay their praises. [and miss much of their benefits from grateful appreciation]

Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so: I mean, with inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse and practice

For love is a flattering mischief, that hath denied aged and wise men a foresight of those evils that too often prove to be the children of that blind father; a passion, that carries us to commit errors with as much ease as whirlwinds move feathers, and begets in us an unwearied industry to the attainment of what we desire.

I have then with pleasure concluded with Solomon, Everything is beautiful in his season.

[Be grateful for the simple things in life. Don't take them for granted. After all...] What would a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers and meadows and flowers and fountains; and this and many other like blessings we enjoy daily.

Health is...a blessing that money cannot buy.

A companion that feasts the company with and mirth, and leaves out the sin which is usually mixed with them, he is the man; and let me tell you, good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue.

And though it is most certain, that two lutes being both strung and turned to an equal pitch, and then one played upon, the other will warble a faint audible harmony in answer to the same tune: yet many will not believe there is any such thing as sympathy of souls, and I am well pleased that every reader do enjoy his own opinion.

I have known a very good, fisher angle diligently four or six hours for a river carp, and not have a bite.

Angling is an Art... an art worth your learning.

The Waters are Nature's storehouse in which she locks up her wonders..

Affliction is a divine diet which though it be not pleasing to mankind, yet almighty God hath often imposed it as a good, thought bitter, physic, to those children whose souls are dearest to him.

Let me tell you that every misery I miss is a new blessing.

I love any discourse of rivers, and fish and fishing.

Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so...

Blessings upon all that hate contention, and love quietnesse, and vertue, and Angling.

This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men.

I am, Sir, a brother of the angle.

O, sir, doubt not that Angling is an art; is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly?

Doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can't buy.

No life is so happy and so pleasant as the life of the well-govern'd angler.

You cannot lose what you never had.

If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.

Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration.