Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 7

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• This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Horse, Philosophy, Journey

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

  7 Copy quote

• And the weak soul, within itself unbless'd, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Soul, Weakness, Pleasure

  Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson, William Shenstone (1861). “Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson and William Shenstone”, p.9

  7 Copy quote

• They please, are pleas'd, they give to get esteem Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Ambition, Giving, Please

  Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Rose, Thomas Percy, Thomas Campbell (1821). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B..”, p.38

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• Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Imagination, Taste, Entertainment

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.294

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• Philosophy ... should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Philosophy, Increase, Should

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “Enquiry into the present state of polite learning. The citizen of the world”, p.234

  4 Copy quote

• Nobody with me at sea but myself.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Sea, Solitude

  Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield”, p.24

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• Trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Business, Haste, Decay

  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.209

  7 Copy quote

• In all my wanderings round this world of care,
  In all my griefs-and God has given my share-
  I still had hopes my latest hours to crown,
  Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Hope, Grief, Humble

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Poetical works. Dramas. The vicar of Wakefield”, p.42

  7 Copy quote

• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Cynical, Ridiculous, Philosopher

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

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Lying, Archer, Heart

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• There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher. Fontenelle says he would undertake to persuade the whole public of readers to believe that the sun was neither the cause of light or heat, if he could only get six philosophers on his side.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Philosophy, Believe, Science

  7 Copy quote

• Man little knows what calamities are beyond his patience to bear till he tries them; as in ascending the heights of ambition, which look bright from below, every step we rise shows us some new and gloomy prospect of hidden disappointment; so in our descent from the summits of pleasure, though the vale of misery below may appear, at first, dark and gloomy, yet the busy mind, still attentive to its own amusement, finds, as we descend, something to flatter and to please. Still as we approach, the darkest objects appear to brighten, and the mortal eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Disappointment, Ambition, Eye

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Poetical works. Dramas. The vicar of Wakefield”, p.376

  19 Copy quote

• Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain, which plays highest by diminishing the aperture.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Play, May, Fancy

  Oliver Goldsmith (1820). “Letters from a citizen of the world, to his friends in the East”, p.154

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• The life of a scholar seldom abounds with adventure.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Adventure, Scholar

  Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.475

  4 Copy quote

• Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Peppers, Callous, Please

  Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson, William Shenstone (1861). “Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson and William Shenstone”, p.31

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