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Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 13

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The jests of the rich are ever successful.

The jests of the rich are ever successful.

Oliver Goldsmith
Successful, Riches, Wealth
Oliver Goldsmith (1809). “The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale”, p.39

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Virtue, Guarded, Sentinels
'The Vicar of Wakefield' (1766) ch. 5

Hope, like the gleaming taper

Oliver Goldsmith
Hope
Oliver Goldsmith (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces”, p.88

I always get the better when I argue alone.

Oliver Goldsmith
Funny, Sarcastic, Sarcasm

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Fashion, Art, Joy
1770 The Deserted Village, l.263-4.

To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art.

Oliver Goldsmith
Art, Simplicity, Charm
Oliver Goldsmith, Walter MACLEOD (of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea.) (1858). “Goldsmith's Deserted village, with remarks on the analysis of sentences, exercises in parsing, notes ... and a life of the poet ... By Walter M'Leod”, p.71

I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing.

Oliver Goldsmith
Love, Men, Zealous
Oliver Goldsmith (1845). “The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale”, p.96

As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent; whence must necessarily arise a desire of attaining knowledge with the greatest possible ease.

Oliver Goldsmith
Book, Reading, Desire
Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.391

Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain.

Oliver Goldsmith
Sweet, Auburn, Village
'The Deserted Village' (1770) l. 1

A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.

Oliver Goldsmith
Book, Errors, Dull
Oliver Goldsmith (1806). “The Vicar of Wakefield”, p.13

Fear guides more than gratitude.

Oliver Goldsmith
Gratitude, Fear, Guides

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

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

We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adventures were by the fireside, and all our migrations from the blue bed to the brown.

Oliver Goldsmith
Retirement, Adventure, Fire
'The Vicar of Wakefield' (1766) ch. 1

Aspiring beggary is wretchedness itself.

Oliver Goldsmith
Wretchedness, Beggary
Oliver Goldsmith (1816). “The Vicar of Wakefield”, p.10

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Death, Distance, Friendly
Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.693

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,- Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

Oliver Goldsmith
Sunshine, Clouds, Storm
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.199

What cities, as great as this, have... promised themselves immortality! Posterity can hardly trace the situation of some. The sorrowful traveller wanders over the awful ruins of others... Here stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile; temples and theatres stood here, now only an undistinguished heap of ruins.

Oliver Goldsmith
Weed, Cities, House
"Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 686-88, The Bee, No, IV. A City Night-Piece, 1922.

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Sorrow, Fields, Done
Oliver Goldsmith (1830). “The vicar of Wakefield, etc. (University edition.)”, p.217

With disadvantages enough to bring him to humility, a Scotsman is one of the proudest things alive.

Oliver Goldsmith
Humility, Alive, Enough

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

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

Oliver Goldsmith
People, Praise, Spokes
Oliver Goldsmith (1850). “Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, Citizen of the world, Poetical works, etc”, p.111

There is yet a silent agony in which the mind appears to disdain all external help, and broods over its distresses with gloomy reserve. This is the most dangerous state of mind; accidents or friendships may lessen the louder kinds of grief, but all remedies for this must be had from within, and there despair too often finds the most deadly enemy.

Oliver Goldsmith
Grief, Agony, Mind
Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.342

Our chief comforts often produce our greatest anxieties, and the increase in our possessions is but an inlet to new disquietudes.

Oliver Goldsmith
Anxiety, Simple Life, Comfort
Oliver Goldsmith (1833). “Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With a New Life of the Author”, p.178

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Country, Mountain, Loud
Oliver Goldsmith (1851). “The Traveller”, p.7

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