Quotes from Izaak Walton

The will of man is by his reason swayed.

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.

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]

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good.

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

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

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

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.

An excellent angler, and now with God.

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

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.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.

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

Angling is an art, and an art worth your learning.

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

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

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.

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