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Portrait of Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith

(1728–1774) Novelist Kingdom of Ireland

375 quotes in 1423 categories

Oliver Goldsmith notes that many of our good fortunes come from our own work. He compares a youth with a silver spoon to one with a wooden ladle, and he says politics are like religion, losing ceremony can bring contempt. He also observes that truth can calm fools who come to scoff.

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Oliver Goldsmith was a novelist from the Kingdom of Ireland, best known for Goldsmith's The vicar of Wakefield.

Quick Facts About Oliver Goldsmith

Born: November 10, 1728
Died: April 4, 1774
Nationality: Kingdom of Ireland
Profession: Novelist
Notable works: Goldsmith's The vicar of Wakefield
Known for: The Vicar of Wakefield, She Stoops to Conquer

About Oliver Goldsmith

He also wrote poetry and was described as a hack writer, showing great versatility across many genres during the Georgian era. Goldsmith is credited with bringing sentimentalism to English literature, and his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) remains a classic.

Quotes by Oliver Goldsmith

And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

Oliver Goldsmith

Ignorance

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Fear guides more than gratitude.

Oliver Goldsmith

Fear

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Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.

Oliver Goldsmith

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Error is ever talkative.

Oliver Goldsmith

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Hope, like the gleaming taper

Oliver Goldsmith

Funny

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And learn the luxury of doing good.

Oliver Goldsmith

Doing good

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Nobody with me at sea but myself.

Oliver Goldsmith

Inspirational

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The sports of children satisfy the child.

Oliver Goldsmith

Child

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They liked the book better the more it made them cry.

Oliver Goldsmith

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Age, that lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living

Oliver Goldsmith

Age

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Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities.

Oliver Goldsmith

Calamities

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The jests of the rich are ever successful.

Oliver Goldsmith

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You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Oliver Goldsmith

Life

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The nakedness of the indigent world may be clothed from the trimmings of the vain.

Oliver Goldsmith

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To a philosopher no circumstance, however trifling, is too minute.

Oliver Goldsmith

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

Oliver Goldsmith

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A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided…

Oliver Goldsmith

Blind

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

Oliver Goldsmith

Enemy

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A night-cap deck'd his brows instead of bay,- A cap by night, a stocking all the day.

Oliver Goldsmith

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

Oliver Goldsmith

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How happy he who crowns in shades like these, A youth of labour with an age of ease.

Oliver Goldsmith

Age

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

Oliver Goldsmith

Cities

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Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both…

Oliver Goldsmith

Animal

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Aromatic plants bestow no spicy fragrance while they grow; but crush'd or trodden to the ground, diffuse their balmy sweets around.

Oliver Goldsmith

Adversity

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Titles and mottoes to books are like escutcheons and dignities in the hands of a king. The wise sometimes condescend to accept…

Oliver Goldsmith

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Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and…

Oliver Goldsmith

Beauty

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I have visited many countries, and have been in cities without number, yet never did I enter a town which could not…

Oliver Goldsmith

Cities

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Fear guides more to their duty than gratitude; for one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, from the obligation…

Oliver Goldsmith

Apprehension

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The youth who follows his appetites too soon seizes the cup, before it has received its best ingredients, and by anticipating his…

Oliver Goldsmith

Age

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There is nothing magnanimous in bearing misfortunes with fortitude, when the whole world is looking on… He who, without friends to encourage…

Oliver Goldsmith

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The little mind who loves itself, will wr'te and think with the vulgar; but the great mind will be bravely eccentric, and…

Oliver Goldsmith

Authorship

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The polite of every country seem to have but one character. A gentleman of Sweden differs but little, except in trifles, from…

Oliver Goldsmith

Character

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When any one of our relations was found to be a person of a very bad character, a troublesome guest, or one…

Oliver Goldsmith

Bad character

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Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted…

Oliver Goldsmith

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Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire; Blest that abode, where want…

Oliver Goldsmith

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But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wandering spent and care; Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to…

Oliver Goldsmith

Allure

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If we look round the world, there seem to be not above six distinct varieties in the human species, each of which…

Oliver Goldsmith

Change

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Filial obedience is the first and greatest requisite of a state; by this we become good subjects to our emperors, capable of…

Oliver Goldsmith

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What cities, as great as this, have . . . promised themselves immortality! Posterity can hardly trace the situation of some. The…

Oliver Goldsmith

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We may affirm of Mr. Buffon, that which has been said of the chemists of old; though he may have failed in…

Oliver Goldsmith

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Oliver Goldsmith by topic

Inspirational (54) Men (40) Love (33) Life (22) Pleasure (18) Mind (18) World (17) Time (17) Happiness (17) Character (17) Books (17) Psychology (16) Wealth (15) Country (15) Heart (14) Virtue (13) Philosophy (13)