Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 9

Quotes about:

Books are necessary to correct the vices of the polite; but those vices are ever changing, and the antidote should be changed accordingly should still be new.

Oliver Goldsmith

Book, Vices, Should

Oliver Goldsmith (1833). “Miscellaneous works of Oliver Goldsmith: with a new life of the author”, p.219

6 Copy quote
One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title page, another works away at the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.

Oliver Goldsmith

Book, Body, Pages

Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.353

79 Copy quote
To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flames from wasting by repose.

Oliver Goldsmith

Husband, Flames, Repose

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

4 Copy quote
Those who place their affections at first on trifles for amusement, will find these trifles become at last their most serious concerns.

Oliver Goldsmith

Amusement, Lasts, Firsts

7 Copy quote
Let observation with observant view,
Observe mankind from China to Peru.

Oliver Goldsmith

Travel, Views, Peru

10 Copy quote
Want of prudence is too frequently the want of virtue.

Oliver Goldsmith

Want, Virtue, Prudence

Oliver Goldsmith (1801). “The Beauties of Goldsmith”, p.158

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
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
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
As in some Irish houses, where things are so-so,
One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show;
But, for eating a rasher of what they take pride in,
They'd as soon think of eating the pan it is fried in.

Oliver Goldsmith

Pride, Thinking, House

Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.592

7 Copy quote
There are but few talents requisite to become a popular preacher; for the people are easily pleased if they perceive any endeavors in the orator to please them. The meanest qualifications will work this effect if the preacher sincerely sets about it.

Oliver Goldsmith

People, Talent, Endeavor

Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Percy, Thomas Campbell (1812). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.”, p.326

7 Copy quote
The polite of every country seem to have but one character. A gentleman of Sweden differs but little, except in trifles, from one of any other country. It is among the vulgar we are to find those distinctions which characterize a people.

Oliver Goldsmith

Country, Character, People

Oliver Goldsmith (1834). “An inquiry into the present state of polite learning. The Bee. History of Cyrillo Padovano. Life of Dr. Parnell. Life of Lord Bolingbroke. Prefaces and introductions”, p.77

10 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

6 Copy quote
Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high,
Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye,
Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired,
Where graybeard mirth and smiling toil retired,
Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.

Oliver Goldsmith

Lying, Eye, Nuts

Oliver Goldsmith (1834). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With a Biographical Memoir of the Author, Written Expressly for this Edition”, p.100

4 Copy quote
Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity.

Oliver Goldsmith

Universal, Incredulity, Display

Oliver Goldsmith (1859). “A History of the Earth and Animated Nature: Illus. with 85 Copperplates”, p.270

4 Copy quote
It is impossible to combat enthusiasm with reason; for though it makes a show of resistance, it soon eludes the pressure, refers you to distinctions not to be understood, and feelings which it cannot explain. A man who would endeavor to fix an enthusiast by argument might as well attempt to spread quicksilver with his finger.

Oliver Goldsmith

Men, Feelings, Might

Oliver Goldsmith (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces”, p.432

7 Copy quote
Fear guides more to their duty than gratitude; for one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, from the obligation he thinks he lies under to the Giver of all, there are ten thousand who are good only from their apprehension of punishment.

Oliver Goldsmith

Gratitude, Lying, Men

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.258

4 Copy quote
Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;
Blest that abode, where want and pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair
Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jest or pranks, that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale,
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.

Oliver Goldsmith

Pain, Simple, Fire

Oliver Goldsmith (1833). “Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With a New Life of the Author”, p.81

10 Copy quote
Paltry affectation, strained allusions, and disgusting finery are easily attained by those who choose to wear them; they are but too frequently the badges of ignorance or of stupidity, whenever it would endeavor to please.

Oliver Goldsmith

Ignorance, Stupidity, Endeavor

Oliver Goldsmith (1819). “Letters From A Citizen Of The World: To His Friends In The East”, p.135

4 Copy quote
I have visited many countries, and have been in cities without number, yet never did I enter a town which could not produce ten or twelve little great men; all fancying themselves known to the rest of the world, and complimenting each other upon their extensive reputation.

Oliver Goldsmith

Country, Men, Cities

Oliver Goldsmith (1834). “The citizen of the world”, p.217

4 Copy quote
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
Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a good man. I esteem, therefore, the traveller who instructs the heart, but despise him who only indulges the imagination. 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 only a vagabond.

Oliver Goldsmith

Country, Home, Heart

Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The works of Oliver Goldsmith. 2: Enquiry into the present state of polite learning; The citizen of the world”, p.106

4 Copy quote
Every want that stimulates the breast becomes a source of pleasure when redressed.

Oliver Goldsmith

Want, Pleasure, Source

Oliver Goldsmith (1857). “The Vicar of Wakefield: Together with the Poems ...”, p.158

4 Copy quote
The volumes of antiquity, like medals, may very well serve to amuse the curious, but the works of the moderns, like the current coin of a kingdom, are much better for immediate use.

Oliver Goldsmith

May, Kingdoms, Use

Oliver Goldsmith, Henry George Bohn (1848). “Works: With a Life and Notes”, p.218

4 Copy quote
Is it that Nature, attentive to the preservation of mankind, increases our wishes to live, while she lessens our enjoyments, and as she robs the senses of every pleasure, equips imag-ination in the spoil?

Oliver Goldsmith

Wish, Age, Pleasure

Oliver Goldsmith (1816). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With Memoirs of His Life and Writings : Enriched with an Elegant Portrait of the Author”, p.258

7 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Oliver Goldsmith

Follow

Born: November 10, 1730
Died: April 4, 1774
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics