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Walter Scott

Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771-1832) · United Kingdom · Writers · Died at 61

Walter Scott is read about 2,482 times a day, in 97 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

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He built the historical novel as Europe knew it - then watched a continent read nothing else for decades. Scott turned Scotland's past into the template for Romantic fiction, spinning law-clerk precision into bestsellers that made Ivanhoe and Waverley as ordinary as breath.

WritersWriter / AuthorPoetryTheatreFictionLiteratureLawHistory

A life in dates

1832Died21 September 18321827“Although too much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right to be a sovereign among soldiers.”In their wordsLife of Napoleon (1827).

1820“Oh, poverty parts good company.”In their wordsThe Abbot (1820), Ch. 7.

President of the Royal Society of EdinburghOffice1820-18321819“Vacant heart, and hand, and eye, / Easy live and quiet die.”In their wordsThe Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Ch. 3 - Lucy Ashton's Song.

1817“Time will rust the sharpest sword, / Time will consume the strongest cord; / That which molders hemp and steel, / Mortal arm and nerve must feel.”In their wordsHarold the Dauntless (1817), Canto I, st. 4.

1816“War's a fearsome thing. They'll be cunning that catches me at this wark again.”In their wordsOld Mortality, Volume II (1816), Chapter XI.

1813“Where lives the man that has not tried, / How mirth can into folly glide, / And folly into sin!”In their wordsThe Bridal of Triermain (1813), canto i. Stanza 21.

1771Born15 August 1771

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Sir Henry Raeburn - Portrait of Sir Walter ScottSir Henry Raeburn - Portrait of Sir Walter Scott0030274d0030274dA composite music volume containing different issues of Thomson's octavo collection of the songs of Burns, Sir Walter Scott ...- united to the select melodies of Scotland, and of Ireland and Wales (14598540417)A composite music volume containing different issues of Thomson's octavo collection of the songs of Burns, Sir Walter Scott ...- united to the select melodies of Scotland, and of Ireland and Wales (14598540417)Anchor Close (11820854155)Anchor Close (11820854155)Anne Rutherford's grave - Sarah StierchAnne Rutherford's grave - Sarah StierchB Cal DC10 model of Sir Walter ScottB Cal DC10 model of Sir Walter ScottBally-burgh Ness = Pointe de Bally-burghBally-burgh Ness = Pointe de Bally-burghBSG Estampe 86 RES P110BSG Estampe 86 RES P110

In their own words 10

,
Walter Scott
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. The Sun never sets on the immense empire of Charles V.

    1827, Life of Napoleon (1827); see Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Own words

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

    1827, Life of Napoleon (1827)., Own words

  3. Oh, poverty parts good company.

    1820, The Abbot (1820), Ch. 7., Own words

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Awards

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Baronet

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Walter Scott

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About this person

Walter Scott was born 15 August 1771 in Scotland and spent his working life as an advocate, Clerk of Session, and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire - law by day, literature by night. His narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810) made his name, but the Waverley novels (1814-1831) made his century: for nearly a hundred years they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe, and they shaped how American and European writers understood historical fiction. He moved through Edinburgh's Tory establishment, presided over the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1820 to 1832, and served as vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He became a baronet of Abbotsford on 22 April 1820. He died 21 September 1832; the title died with his son in 1847.

Country
United Kingdom
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1771 to 1832 · aged 61

Writers from the United Kingdom 6

Percy Bysshe Shelley76.2Mary Wollstonecraft76.2Doris Lessing76.3Aldous Huxley76.1Mary Berry76.4George Eliot76.0

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