Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 7

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• I was ever of the opinion, that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Men, Population, Opinion

  'The Vicar of Wakefield' (1766) ch. 1

  13 Copy quote

• Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the least manageable and the most likely to stray from the course. Great abilities have always been less serviceable to the possessors than moderate ones.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Life, Race, Ability

  62 Copy quote

• Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Pride, Charity, Faults

  Oliver Goldsmith (1867). “The Poetical Works”, p.58

  9 Copy quote

• Unequal combinations are always disadvantageous to the weaker side.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Business, Sides, Combination

  Oliver Goldsmith (1809). “The miscellaneous works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.76

  8 Copy quote

• When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy, what art can wash her guilt away?

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Love, Art, Betrayal

  The Vicar of Wakefield ch. 29 (1766)

  11 Copy quote

• Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale, And guide my lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Lonely, Cheer, Loneliness

  Oliver Goldsmith (1841). “Goldsmith's miscellaneous works”, p.5

  6 Copy quote

• Whatever be the motives which induce men to write,--whether avarice or fame,--the country becomes more wise and happy in which they most serve for instructors.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Wise, Country, Writing

  Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.210

  6 Copy quote

• The person whose clothes are extremely fine I am too apt to consider as not being possessed of any superiority of fortune, but resembling those Indians who are found to wear all the gold they have in the world in a bob at the nose.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Clothes, Gold, Bob

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The works of Oliver Goldsmith. 2: Enquiry into the present state of polite learning; The citizen of the world”, p.259

  5 Copy quote

• I fancy the character of a poet is in every country the same,--fond of enjoying the present, careless of the future; his conversation that of a man of sense, his actions those of a fool.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Character, Men

  Oliver Goldsmith (1835). “His Works”, p.241

  4 Copy quote

• Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted into the bargain. True glory, on the other hand, resembles a woman of sense; her admirers must play no tricks. They feel no great anxiety, for they are sure in the end of being rewarded in proportion to their merit.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hands, Play, Perfect

  Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield”, p.193

  7 Copy quote

• There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Cynical, Ridiculous, Philosopher

  7 Copy quote

• The heart of every man lies open to the shafts of correction if the archer can take proper aim.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Lying, Archer, Heart

  7 Copy quote

• The wisdom of the ignorant somewhat resembles the instinct of animals; it is diffused in but a very narrow sphere, but within the circle it acts with vigor, uniformity, and success.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Wisdom, Animal, Circles

  Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Miscellaneous Works: Letters from a citizen of the world, to his friend in the East. A familiar introduction to the study of natural history”, p.323

  4 Copy quote

• Like the tiger, that seldom desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the reader who has once gratified his appetite with calumny makes ever after the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputations!

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Men, Flesh, Reputation

  Oliver Goldsmith (1871). “The works of Oliver Goldsmith: Vicar of Wakefield, select poems and comedies, with intr., notes and a life by J.F. Waller”, p.211

  7 Copy quote

• By every remove I only drag a greater length of chain.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Length, Chains, Drag

  Oliver Goldsmith, Henry George Bohn (1848). “Works: With a Life and Notes”, p.10

  4 Copy quote

• The more various our artificial necessities, the wider is our circle of pleasure; for all pleasure consists in obviating necessities as they rise; luxury, therefore, as it increases our wants, increases our capacity for happiness

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Circles, Luxury, Want

  Oliver Goldsmith (1835). “His Works”, p.30

  6 Copy quote

• In a polite age almost every person becomes a reader, and receives more instruction from the Press than the Pulpit.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Reading, Age, Instruction

  Oliver Goldsmith (1834). “The miscellaneous works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: with a biographical memoir of the author, written expressly for this edition”, p.219

  7 Copy quote

• Thus 'tis with all; their chief and constant care Is to seem everything but what they are.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hypocrisy, Care, Chiefs

  Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.683

  7 Copy quote

• The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Talking, Age, Whispering

  Oliver Goldsmith, Walter MACLEOD (of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea.) (1858). “Goldsmith's Deserted village, with remarks on the analysis of sentences, exercises in parsing, notes ... and a life of the poet ... By Walter M'Leod”, p.52

  4 Copy quote

• Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Teaching, Men, Gains

  Oliver Goldsmith (1825). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Miscellaneous poems. The good-natured man. She stoops to conquer; or, the Mistakes of a night. An oratorio. Prefaces. [Criticisms”, p.67

  4 Copy quote

• Titles and mottoes to books are like escutcheons and dignities in the hands of a king. The wise sometimes condescend to accept of them; but none but a fool would imagine them of any real importance. We ought to depend upon intrinsic merit, and not the slender helps of the title.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Wise, Kings, Real

  Oliver Goldsmith (1820). “Essays and The Bee”

  7 Copy quote

• If you don't ask me questions, I can't give you an untrue answer.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Giving, Answers, Ask Me

  4 Copy quote

• But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train
  Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain;
  Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose,
  Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Land, Rose, Wealth

  Oliver Goldsmith, Sir James Prior (1851). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Including a Variety of Pieces Now First Collected”, p.66

  4 Copy quote

• There is probably no country so barbarous that would not disclose all it knew, if it received equivalent information; and I am apt to think that a person who was ready to give more knowledge than he received would be welcome wherever he came.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Travel, Thinking

  Oliver Goldsmith (1824). “Essays, poems and plays”, p.86

  4 Copy quote

• [T]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have from those unfathomable regions are by means of volcanoes, those burning mountains that seem to discharge their materials from the lowest abysses of the earth.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Mean, Science, Volcanoes

  Oliver Goldsmith (1825). “A History of the Earth: And Animated Nature”, p.26

  7 Copy quote

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