Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 7

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• I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too. No, sir, these, I protest you, are too hard for me.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Want, Argument, Intellect

  The Vicar of Wakefield ch. 7 (1766)

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• 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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• 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

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• 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

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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

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• 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

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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

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• 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

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• 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)

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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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• Girls like to be played with and rumpled a little too sometimes.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Girl, Mom, Daughter

  Oliver Goldsmith (1834). “Life. Commendatory verses. Poems. Plays. Letters. Memorandums of agreement between Dr. Goldsmith and Thomas Davies, bookseller”, p.284

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• Like the bee, we should make our industry our amusement.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Work, Amusement, Bees

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• Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,- A breath can make them, as a breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Pride, Men

  The Deserted Village l. 51 (1770)

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• What if in Scotland's wilds we viel'd our head, Where tempests whistle round the sordid bed; Where the rug's two-fold use we might display, By night a blanket, and a plaid by day.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Home, Night, Scotland

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• 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

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