Oliver Goldsmith

And learn the luxury of doing good.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Hope, like the gleaming taper

— Oliver Goldsmith

Aspiring beggary is wretchedness itself.

— Oliver Goldsmith

The first blow is half the battle.

— Oliver Goldsmith

In all the silent manliness of grief.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Tenderness is a virtue.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Nobody with me at sea but myself.

— Oliver Goldsmith

The sports of children satisfy the child.

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

“A reserved lover, it is said, always makes a suspicious husband.”

— Oliver Goldsmith

Good counsel rejected returns to enrich the givers bosom.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of humankind pass by.

— Oliver Goldsmith

If we do not find happiness in the present moment, in what shall we find it?

— Oliver Goldsmith

True wisdom consists of tracing effects to their causes.

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

A man's own heart must ever be given to gain that of another.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Thus 'tis with all; their chief and constant care Is to seem everything but what they are.

— Oliver Goldsmith

They please, are pleas'd, they give to get esteem Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

I have known a German Prince with more titles than subjects, and a Spanish nobleman with more names than shirts.

— Oliver Goldsmith

And the weak soul, within itself unbless'd, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity.

— Oliver Goldsmith

Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.

— Oliver Goldsmith

The world is like a vast sea: mankind like a vessel sailing on its tempestuous bosom. ... [T]he sciences serve us for…

— Oliver Goldsmith

Friendship is made up of esteem and pleasure; pity is composed of sorrow and contempt: the mind may for some time fluctuate…

— 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…

— Oliver Goldsmith

The volumes of antiquity, like medals, may very well serve to amuse the curious, but the works of the moderns, like the…

— Oliver Goldsmith

And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reprov'd each…

— Oliver Goldsmith

The premises being thus settled, I proceed to observe that the concatenation of self-existence, proceeding in a reciprocal duplicate ratio, naturally produces…

— Oliver Goldsmith

The wisdom of the ignorant somewhat resembles the instinct of animals; it is diffused in but a very narrow sphere, but within…

— Oliver Goldsmith

There is probably no country so barbarous that would not disclose all it knew, if it received equivalent information; and I am…

— Oliver Goldsmith

There are but few talents requisite to become a popular preacher; for the people are easily pleased if they perceive any endeavors…

— Oliver Goldsmith

There is yet a silent agony in which the mind appears to disdain all external help, and broods over its distresses with…

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee…

— Oliver Goldsmith

The Europeans are themselves blind who describe fortune without sight. No first-rate beauty ever had finer eyes, or saw more clearly. They…

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith

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

— Oliver Goldsmith