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The man, whom I call deserving the name, is one whose thoughts and exertions are for others rather than himself.

— Walter Scott

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 404.
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

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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Topics

Men

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.