Quote of the Day for Friday, October 9, 2026

…a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle, 1819

Our note: The narrator on Rip's wife, Dame Van Winkle.

Verified in the full text of Rip Van Winkle on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2048 · Collected in The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon

Painted the same decade: General Étienne-Maurice Gérard (1773–1852), Jacques Louis David, 1816

More quotes about: kindness, character

Every quote on ponderloop is by a writer who died in 1955 or earlier, from a work published in 1930 or earlier, and was found word for word in the linked edition. How we verify.