# The Compleat Angler - Author: [Izaak Walton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton.md) - Quotes: 24 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler ## Quotes > It [angling] deserves commendations;… it is an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/it-angling-deserves.md) > 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 [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/angling-is-somewhat.md) > No man can lose what he never had. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/no-man-can.md) > 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." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/sir-henry-wotton.md) > Let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be...upon all that are lovers of virtue, and dare trust in his Providence, and be quiet and go a-angling. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/let-the-blessing.md) > This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/this-dish-of-meat.md) > As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/as-no-man.md) > As the Italians say, Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/as-the-italians.md) > Of which, if thou be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a competent judge. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/of-which-if-thou.md) > 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. p. 98 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/we-may-say.md) > I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/i-love-such.md) > 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. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/you-will-find.md) > 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. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/look-to-your.md) > I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, "That which is everybody's business is nobody's business." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/i-remember-that.md) > Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery element are made for wise men to contemplate, and for fools to pass by without consideration. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/rivers-and-the.md) > Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/good-company-and.md) > I am, sir, a Brother of the Angle. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/i-am-sir.md) > Thus use your frog...Put your hook through his mouth, and out at his gills;...and then with a fine needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg, with only one stitch, to the arming-wire of your hook; or tie the frog's leg, above the upper joint, to the armed-wire; and in so doing use him as though you loved him. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/thus-use-your.md) > An excellent angler, and now with God. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/an-excellent-angler.md) > Doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/doubt-not-but.md) > I have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/i-have-laid.md) > Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learnt. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/angling-may-be-said.md) > 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. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/i-shall-stay.md) > Old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/old-fashioned-poetry-but.md)