Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 3

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• No one but a fool would measure their satisfaction by what the world thinks of it.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Thinking, Fool, World

  8 Copy quote

• There is a greatness in being generous, and there is only simple justice in satisfying creditors. Generosity is the part of the soul raised above the vulgar.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Simple, Greatness, Generosity

  Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield”, p.182

  8 Copy quote

• Ridicule has even been the most powerful enemy of enthusiasm, and properly the only antagonist that can be opposed to it with success.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Powerful, Enemy, Enthusiasm

  Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.260

  8 Copy quote

• Write how you want, the critic shall show the world you could have written better.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Writing, Criticism, World

  8 Copy quote

• Friendship is made up of esteem and pleasure; pity is composed of sorrow and contempt: the mind may for some time fluctuate between them, but it can never entertain both at once.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Friendship, Mind, Sorrow

  Oliver Goldsmith (1868). “The vicar of Wakefield, poems, and essays”, p.258

  16 Copy quote

• Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
  Adorns and cheers our way;
  And still, as darker grows the night,
  Emits a brighter ray.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Inspirational, Hope, Cheer

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The works of Oliver Goldsmith. 1: Poetical works; Dramas; The vicar of Wakefield”, p.70

  20 Copy quote

• The soul may be compared to a field of battle, where the armies are ready every moment to encounter. Not a single vice but has a more powerful opponent, and not one virtue but may be overborne by a combination of vices.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Powerful, Army, Soul

  Oliver Goldsmith (1825). “Miscellaneous works”, p.189

  8 Copy quote

• One should not quarrel with a dog without a reason sufficient to vindicate one through all the courts of morality.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Dog, Morality, Reason

  7 Copy quote

• The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found, at last, to be of our own producing.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Lasts, Found, Circumstances

  Oliver Goldsmith (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: To which is Prefixed Some Account of His Life and Writings”, p.5

  27 Copy quote

• Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Love, Friendship, Real

  'The Good-Natured Man' (1768) act 1

  8 Copy quote

• As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be taught them is to admire frugality. It is by the exercise of this virtue alone they can ever expect to be useful members of society.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Exercise, Boys, Lessons

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The bee. Essays. Unacknowledged essays. Prefaces, introductions, etc”, p.171

  12 Copy quote

• Aromatic plants bestow no spicy fragrance while they grow; but crush'd or trodden to the ground, diffuse their balmy sweets around.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Crush, Sweet, Adversity

  Oliver Goldsmith (1849). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With an Account of His Life and Writings : Stereotyped from the Paris Edition : Complete in One Volume”, p.221

  15 Copy quote

• People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Inspirational, Life, People

  14 Copy quote

• Those who think must govern those that toil.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Thinking, Toil

  Oliver Goldsmith (1818). “The poems and plays of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.16

  13 Copy quote

• Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hope, Bait, Hook

  25 Copy quote

• In all the silent manliness of grief.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Grief, Silence, Silent

  'The Deserted Village' (1770) l. 384

  22 Copy quote

• Tenderness is a virtue.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Virtue, Tenderness

  "The Good-Natur'd Man". Play by Oliver Goldsmith, 1768.

  29 Copy quote

• Silence is become his mother tongue.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Mother, Silence, Tongue

  'The Good-Natured Man' (1768) act 2

  17 Copy quote

• Little things are great to little men.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Men, Littles, Little Things

  "The traveller. Or, a prospect of society". Poem by Oliver Goldsmith, 1764.

  33 Copy quote

• A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Travel, Home

  Oliver Goldsmith (1809). “The Citizen of the World; Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher: Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country”, p.24

  60 Copy quote

• The ingratitude of the world can never deprive us of the conscious happiness of having acted with humanity ourselves.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Humanity, World, Conscious

  Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.623

  27 Copy quote

• Both wit and understanding are trifles without integrity; it is that which gives value to every character. The ignorant peasant, without fault, is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without a heart?

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Inspirational, Art, Integrity

  "The Vicar of Wakefield".

  21 Copy quote

• If frugality were established in the state, and if our expenses were laid out to meet needs rather than superfluities of life, there might be fewer wants, and even fewer pleasures, but infinitely more happiness.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Life, Happiness, Inner Peace

  7 Copy quote

• Were I to be angry at men being fools, I could here find ample room for declamation; but, alas! I have been a fool myself; and why should I be angry with them for being something so natural to every child of humanity?

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Children, Men, Humanity

  Oliver Goldsmith (1835). “His Works”, p.168

  14 Copy quote

• Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Champion, Absurdity

  16 Copy quote

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