Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683)
English writer, author of The Compleat Angler.
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.
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.
It [angling] deserves commendations;… it is an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.
No man can lose what he never had.
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."
This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men.
As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.
The great secretary of Nature and all learning, Sir Francis Bacon.
An excellent angler, and now with God.
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.
I am, sir, a Brother of the Angle.
I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning.
But God, who is able to prevail, wrestled with him, as the Angel did with Jacob, and marked him; marked him for his own; marked him with a blessing, a blessing of obedience to the motions of his blessed Spirit.
God has two dwellings — one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.
As the Italians say, Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter.
I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, "That which is everybody's business is nobody's business."
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 a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy.
Old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good.
Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue.