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It is necessary, for exciting interest of any kind, that the subject assumed should be, as it were, translated into the manners as well as the language of the age we live in."

— Walter Scott

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Source: Sir Walter Scott in: in: “The Novels of Walter Scott: With All His Introd. and Notes, Volume 2”, p. 469
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Walter Scott

When, musing on companions gone,
We doubly feel ourselves alone.

Marmion (1808)

My foot is on my native heath, and my name is MacGregor.

Rob Roy (1817)

Tell that to the marines—the sailors won't believe it.

Redgauntlet (1824)

The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.

The Monastery (1820)

It's no fish ye're buying, it's men's lives.

The Antiquary (1816)

Guilt, though it may attain temporal splendour, can never confer real happiness.

The Heart of Midlothian (1818)

I cannot tell how the truth may be;
I say the tale as 'twas said to me.

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Where lives the man that has not tried,
How mirth can into folly glide,
And folly into sin!

The Bridal of Triermain (1813)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Justifying the use of anachronism in historical literature.

More quotes by Walter Scott

O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!

Marmion (1808)

The paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.

The Heart of Midlothian (1818)

Just at the age 'twixt boy and youth,
When thought is speech, and speech is truth.

Marmion (1808)

Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.

Life of Napoleon (1827)

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.

The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Scott (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.