Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 3

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• The first blow is half the battle.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Blow, Battle, Firsts

  'She Stoops to Conquer' (1773) act 2

  7 Copy quote

• Every acknowledgment of gratitude is a circumstance of humiliation; and some are found to submit to frequent mortifications of this kind, proclaiming what obligations they owe, merely because they think it in some measure cancels the debt.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Gratitude, Thinking, Debt

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

  7 Copy quote

• What is genius or courage without a heart?

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Leadership, Courage, Heart

  Oliver Goldsmith (1803). “The Beauties of Goldsmith, Or, The Complete Treasury of Genius: To which is Prefixed the Life of the Author”, p.106

  5 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

• 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

• Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Passion, Two, Pity

  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

• 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

• You will always find that those are most apt to boast of national merit, who have little or not merit of their own to depend on . . .

  Oliver Goldsmith

  War, Merit, Littles

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The bee. Essays. Unacknowledged essays. Prefaces, introductions, etc”, p.283

  5 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

• 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

• Take a dollar from a thousand and it will be a thousand no more.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Money, Dollars, Thousand

  5 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hope, Bait, Hook

  25 Copy quote

• Tenderness is a virtue.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Virtue, Tenderness

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

  29 Copy quote

• In all the silent manliness of grief.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Grief, Silence, Silent

  'The Deserted Village' (1770) l. 384

  22 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

• 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

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