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Oliver Goldsmith Quotes - Page 6

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Measures, not men, have always been my mark.

Measures, not men, have always been my mark.

Oliver Goldsmith
Men, Mark
Oliver Goldsmith (1807). “The good natur'd man: a comedy, etc”, p.24

Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.

Oliver Goldsmith
Love, Friendship, Real
'The Good-Natured Man' (1768) act 1

The volume of Nature is the book of knowledge.

Oliver Goldsmith
Nature, Book, Volume
Oliver Goldsmith (1801). “The Beauties of Goldsmith”, p.108

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
Sleep, Names, Shade
Oliver Goldsmith (1825). “A History of the Earth: And Animated Nature”, p.856

A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad When he put on his clothes.

Oliver Goldsmith
Kindness, Heart, Clothes
'Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog'

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)

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

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

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

In arguing one should meet serious pleading with humor, and humor with serious pleading.

Oliver Goldsmith
Serious, Arguing, Argument

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

Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.

Oliver Goldsmith
Passion, Two, Pity

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

While selfishness joins hands with no one of the virtues, benevolence is allied to them all.

Oliver Goldsmith
Hands, Selfishness, Virtue

Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities.

Oliver Goldsmith
Real, Painful, Shame
Oliver Goldsmith (1855). “The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale”, p.65

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

See me, how calm I am. Ay, people are generally calm at the misfortunes of others.

Oliver Goldsmith
People, Calm, Calumny
Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Cumberland (1817*). “Comedy of She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night. By Dr. Goldsmith. Adapted for Theatrical Representation, as Performed at the Theatres-royal Covent-Garden and Drury-Lane ... with the Life of the Author, and a Critique, by R. Cumberland, Esq”, p.37

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

The genteel thing is the genteel thing any time, if as be that a gentleman bees in a concatenation accordingly.

Oliver Goldsmith
Time, Gentleman, Bees
Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.222

Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po.

Oliver Goldsmith
Lazy, Laziness, Melancholy
Oliver Goldsmith (1825). “A History of the Earth: And Animated Nature”, p.843

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

Oliver Goldsmith
Men, Cunning, Prudence
Oliver Goldsmith, David Masson (1869). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith”, p.250

I have found by experience that they who have spent all their lives in cities contract not only an effeminacy of habit, but of thinking.

Oliver Goldsmith
Thinking, Cities, Habit
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.136

How wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land.

Oliver Goldsmith
Land, Limits, Splendid
'The Deserted Village' (1770) l. 267

Near yonder copse, where once the garden smil'd, And still where many a garden flower grows wild, There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose. A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from town's he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had chang'd nor wish'd to change his place; Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize. More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.

Oliver Goldsmith
Country, Fashion, Flower
Oliver Goldsmith (1856). “The Miscellaneous Works: Poems. Miscellaneous pieces. Dramas. Criticism relating to poetry and the belles-lettres”, p.69

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

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