Goldsmith Oliver Quotes

When a person has no need to borrow they find multitudes willing to lend. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

The life of a scholar seldom abounds with adventure. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

There is unspeakable pleasure attending the life of a voluntary student. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

We are not to judge the feelings of others by what we might feel in their place. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks if this be joy. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Good people all, with one accord, Lament for Madam Blaize, Who never wanted a good word From those who spoke her praise. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flames from wasting by repose. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Every absurdity has a champion to defend it. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

O friendship! thou fond soother of the human breast, to thee we fly in every calamity; to thee the wretched seek for succor; on thee the care-tired son of misery fondly relies; from thy kind assistance the unfortunate always hopes relief, and may be sure of
disappointment. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

My friends, my children, and fellow sufferers, when I reflect on the
distribution of good and evil here below, I find that much has been
given man to enjoy, yet still more to suffer. Though we should examine
the whole world, we shall not find one man so happy as to have nothing
left to wish for; but we daily see thousands who by suicide shew us they
have nothing left to hope. In this life then it appears that we cannot
be entirely blest; but yet we may be completely miserable! ~ Oliver Goldsmith

If you don't ask me questions, I can't give you an untrue answer. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The malicious sneer is improperly called laughter. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

A mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

An Englishman fears contempt more than death. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

By every remove I only drag a greater length of chain. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Wisdom makes a slow defense against trouble, though a sure one in the end. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey/Where wealth accumulates and men decay ~ Oliver Goldsmith

And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

If one wishes to become rich they must appear rich. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

There is nothing magnanimous in bearing misfortunes with fortitude, when the whole world is looking on ... He who, without friends to encourage or even without hope to alleviate his misfortunes, can behave with tranquility and indifference, is truly great. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Silence gives consent. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Like the tiger, that seldom desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the reader who has once gratified his appetite with calumny makes ever after the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputations! ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Man seems the only growth that dwindles here. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar, But bind him to his native mountains more. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss! ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The youth who follows his appetites too soon seizes the cup, before it has received its best ingredients, and by anticipating his pleasures, robs the remaining parts of life of their share, so that his eagerness only produces manhood of imbecility and an age of pain. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth or fame, And leaves the wretch to weep? ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Indeed, Constance, you amaze me. Such a girl as you want jewels! It will be time enough for jewels, my dear, twenty years hence, when your beauty begins to want repairs. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Premature consolation is but the remembrancer of sorrow. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

... The more enormous our wealth, the more extensive our fears, all our possessions are paled up with new edicts every day, and hung round with gibbets to scare every invader. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

A silent address is the genuine eloquence of sincerity. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

He makes a very handsome corpse and becomes his coffin prodigiously. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

It has been remarked that almost every character which has excited either attention or pity has owed part of its success to merit, and part to a happy concurrence of circumstances in its favor. Had Caesar or Cromwell exchanged countries, the one might have been a sergeant and the other an exciseman. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The sports of children satisfy the child. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

To aim at excellence, our reputation, and friends, and all must be ventured; to aim at the average we run no risk and provide little service. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Our bounty, like a drop of water, disappears, when diffus'd too widely ~ Oliver Goldsmith

A great source of calamity lies in regret and anticipation; therefore a person is wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or future. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

To the last moment of his breath, On hope the wretch relies; And even the pang preceding death Bids expectation rise. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Absence, like death, sets a seal on the image of those we love: we cannot realize the intervening changes which time may have effected. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

O Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree! ~ Oliver Goldsmith

And learn the luxury of doing good. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The whitewash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door; The chest, contriv'd a double debt to pay,- A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

It seemed to me pretty plain, that they had more of love than matrimony in them. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Girls like to be played with, and rumpled a little too, sometimes. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

A boy will learn more true wisdom in a public school in a year than by a private education in five. It is not from masters, but from their equals, that youth learn a knowledge of the world. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure; but there's no love lost between us. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

As few subjects are more interesting to society, so few have been more frequently written upon than the education of youth. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The first blow is half the battle. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The volume of Nature is the book of knowledge. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Our pleasures are short, and can only charm at intervals; love is a method of protraction our greatest pleasure. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The work of eradicating crimes is not by making punishment familiar, but formidable. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Write how you want, the critic shall show the world you could have written better. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Blame where you must, be candid where you can, And be each critic the Good-natured Man. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Silence is become his mother tongue. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

The greatest object in the universe, says a certain philosopher, is a good man struggling with adversity; yet there is still a greater, which is the good man who comes to relieve it. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

I hate the French because they are all slaves and wear wooden shoes. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Take a dollar from a thousand and it will be a thousand no more. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

All the bloomy flush of life is fled. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Philosophy can add to our happiness in no other manner but by diminishing our misery; it should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of. Happy were we all born philosophers; all born with a talent of thus dissipating our own cares by spreading them upon all mankind. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

To make a fine gentleman, several trades are required, but chiefly a barber. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The bounds of a man's knowledge are easily concealed, if he has but prudence. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Here lies David Garrick, describe me who can, An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first best country ever is at home. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

When any one of our relations was found to be a person of a very bad character, a troublesome guest, or one we desired to get rid of, upon his leaving my house I ever took care to lend him a riding-coat, or a pair of boots, or sometimes a horse of small value, and I always had the satisfaction of finding he never came back to return them. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Death when unmasked shows us a friendly face and is a terror only at a distance. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

The little mind who loves itself, will wr'te and think with the vulgar; but the great mind will be bravely eccentric, and scorn the beaten road, from universal benevolence. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Whatever the skill of any country may be in the sciences, it is from its excellence in polite learning alone that it must expect a character from posterity. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the mirthful maze, And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore, Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind. ~ Oliver Goldsmith