Named source · 1819

Rip Van Winkle Quotes by Washington Irving: Context & Meanings

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

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“A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.”

Washington Irving

Meaning & context

Irving uses comic exaggeration to portray how an unchecked habit of sharp speech can harden rather than soften over time.

Source details

Rip Van Winkle, Project Gutenberg #64636. The narrator applies this satirical and strongly gendered sentence to Dame Van Winkle during Rip’s unhappy marriage; it is period literary characterization, not a universal claim about women or relationships.

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