Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

Measures, not men, have always been my mark.

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!

People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.

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.

It has been well observed that few are better qualified to give others advice than those who have taken the least of it themselves.

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

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

Man little knows what calamities are beyond his patience to bear till he tries them; as in ascending the heights of ambition, which look bright from below, every step we rise shows us some new and gloomy prospect of hidden disappointment; so in our descent from the summits of pleasure, though the vale of misery below may appear, at first, dark and gloomy, yet the busy mind, still attentive to its own amusement, finds, as we descend, something to flatter and to please. Still as we approach, the darkest objects appear to brighten, and the mortal eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.

The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend. When I read a book over I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one.

Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It 's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt.

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

Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the happiness of others, is a just criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it, is a criterion of iniquity.

Wealth accumulates, and men decay.

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.

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.

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

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

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

A modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.

Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain, which plays highest by diminishing the aperture.

Even children follow'd with endearing wile, And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.

Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale, And guide my lonely way To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray.

Ridicule has always been the enemy of enthusiasm, and the only worthy opponent to ridicule is success.

As for disappointing them I should not so much mind; but I can't abide to disappoint myself.

[T]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have from those unfathomable regions are by means of volcanoes, those burning mountains that seem to discharge their materials from the lowest abysses of the earth.

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.

The English laws punish vice; the Chinese laws do more, they reward virtue.

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.

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

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.

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

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

We are all sure of two things, at least; we shall suffer and we shall all die.

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

For just experience tells, in every soil, That those that think must govern those that toil.

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.

He watched and wept and prayed and felt for all

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.

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

There are some faults so nearly allied to excellence that we can scarce weed out the vice without eradicating the virtue.

Silence gives consent.

One man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and the other with a wooden ladle.

I love everything that's old, - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.

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.

The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love.

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

Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine!