Oliver Goldsmith Quotes
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Those who place their affections at first on trifles for amusement, will find these trifles become at last their most serious concerns.
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What if in Scotland's wilds we viel'd our head, Where tempests whistle round the sordid bed; Where the rug's two-fold use we might display, By night a blanket, and a plaid by day.
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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.
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When he talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff,He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff.
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Paltry affectation, strained allusions, and disgusting finery are easily attained by those who choose to wear them; they are but too frequently the badges of ignorance or of stupidity, whenever it would endeavor to please.
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Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
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We modest Gentlemen don't want for much success among the women.
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Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.
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O Memory! thou fond deceiver.
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The whitewashed wall, the nicely sanded floor,The varnished clock that clicked behind the door;The chest contrived a double debt to pay,A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day.
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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?
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He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack,For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.
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His conduct still right, with his argument wrong.
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In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.
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To men of other minds my fancy flies,Embosomed in the deep where Holland lies.Methinks her patient sons before me stand,Where the broad ocean leans against the land.
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Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale,And guide my lonely wayTo where yon taper cheers the valeWith hospitable ray.
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Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.
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This is that eloquence the ancients represented as lightning, bearing down every opposer; this the power which has turned whole assemblies into astonishment, admiration and awe- - that is described by the torrent, the flame, and every other instance of irresistible impetuosity.
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To me more dear, congenial to my heart,One native charm, than all the gloss of art.
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The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself.
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As aromatic plants bestowNo spicy fragrance while they grow;But crush'd or trodden to the ground,Diffuse their balmy sweets around.
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It has been remarked that almost every character which has excited either attention or pity has owed part of its success to merit, and part to a happy concurrence of circumstances in its favor. Had Caesar or Cromwell exchanged countries, the one might have been a sergeant and the other an exciseman.
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Handsome is that handsome does.
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Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity.