Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs.

I love everything that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.

He who fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he who is battle slain Can never rise to fight again.

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

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.

I armed her against the censures of the world, shewed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would at least teach us to endure it.

People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy after.

All is not gold that glitters, pleasure seems sweet, but proves a glass of bitters.

Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.

Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.

Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.

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.

law grinds the poor, rich men rule the law

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

Where commerce and capitalism are invloved, often times, morality and honor sink to the bottom-Oliver Goldsmith paraphrased

Politeness is the result of good sense and good nature.

As the reputation of books is raised not by their freedom from defect, but the greatness of their beauties, so should that of men be prized not for their exemption from fault, but the size of those virtues they are possessed of.

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

What we place most hopes upon, generally proves most fatal.

…The more enormous our wealth, the more extensive our fears, all our possessions are paled up with new edicts every day, and hung round with gibbets to scare every invader.

We take gingko to sharpen our memories. We could be memorizing song lyrics instead.

He who fights and runs away May live to fight another day...

I have known many of those pretended champions for liberty in my time, yet do I not remember one that was not in his heart and in his family a tyrant.

The nakedness of the indignant world may be cloathed from the trimmings of the vain.

A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.

The beast retires to its shelter, and the bird flies to its nest; but the helpless man can only find refuge in his fellow creature.

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

We are not to judge the feelings of others by what we might feel in their place.

The life of man is a journey; a journey that must be travelled, however bad the roads or the accommodation. Oliver Goldsmith

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

I fretted myself about the mistakes of government, like other people; but finding myself every day grow more angry, and the government growing no better, I left it to mend itself.

Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities.

They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but to me a modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.

If a snail’s shell gets injured, a repair can be made quickly. New shell material is secreted by the mantle, and where there was once a crack, a scar appears, looking much like a skin scar. Even a missing shell section can be replaced. Oliver Goldsmith described this in 1774: Sometimes these animals are crushed seemingly to pieces, and, to all appearance, utterly destroyed; yet still they set themselves to work, and, in a few days, mend all their numerous breaches . . . to the re-establishment of the ruined habitation. But all the junctures are very easily seen, for they have a fresher colour than the rest; and the whole shell, in some measure, resembles an old coat patched with new pieces.

If you find yourself pulled beyond all practicality toward doing something -- writing poetry, building a business, restoring old cars, planting a secret garden; if at four in the morning the right word comes to you, the perfect flower to plant in that particular spot -- you are playing your invisible instrument.

That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel.

Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey The rich man's joys encrease, the poor's decay, 'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land.

In my box of sound bites there are no jackhammers, no snowmobiles, no Jet Skis, no children wailing. Music but no Muzak. It's my box. Put what you want in yours.

In all my wanderings through 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; To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting, by repose: I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, Amidst the swains to show my book-learn'd skill, Around my fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all I felt, and all I saw; And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return -- and die at home at last.

Indeed, Constance, you amaze me. Such a girl as you want jewels! It will be time enough for jewels, my dear, twenty years hence, when your beauty begins to want repairs.

At this he laughed, and so did we: the jests of the rich are ever successful.

The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.

Thus, my children, after men have travelled through a few stages in vice, shame forsakes them, and returns back to wait upon the few virtues they have still remaining.

the laws govern the poor, and the rich govern the law

Offences are easily pardoned where there is love at the bottom.

We are not to judge of the feelings of others by what we might feel if in their place. However dark the habitation of the mole to our eyes, yet the animal itself finds the apartment sufficiently lightsome.

At the crossroads, the sacred may dwell. The devout practice a religion, performing its daily rituals. Perhaps we call it practice because we hope to become better. . . . but surely we practice a faith because that faith is our living.

Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the least manageable and the most likely to stray from the course. Great abilities have always been less serviceable to the possessors than moderate ones.

I could not but smile to hear her talking in this lofty strain, but I was never much displeased with those harmless delusions that tend to make us more happy.

It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.

Premature consolation is but the remembrancer of sorrow.

In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take.

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

Still to ourselves in every place consign'd, Our own felicity we make or find.

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

La felicidad de nuestra vida depende de la serenidad de nuestra conciencia." - Oliver Goldsmith -

When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can sooth her melancholy, What art can wash her guilt away? The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosom—is to die.

My friends, my children, and fellow sufferers, when I reflect on the distribution of good and evil here below, I find that much has been given man to enjoy, yet still more to suffer. Though we should examine the whole world, we shall not find one man so happy as to have nothing left to wish for; but we daily see thousands who by suicide shew us they have nothing left to hope. In this life then it appears that we cannot be entirely blest; but yet we may be completely miserable!

The pain which conscience gives the man who has already done wrong is soon got over. Conscience is a coward; and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

If a snail’s shell gets injured, a repair can be made quickly. New shell material is secreted by the mantle, and where there was once a crack, a scar appears, looking much like a skin scar. Even a missing shell section can be replaced. Oliver Goldsmith described this in 1774: Sometimes these animals are crushed seemingly to pieces, and, to all appearance, utterly destroyed; yet still they set themselves to work, and, in a few days, mend all their numerous breaches … to the re-establishment of the ruined habitation. But all the junctures are very easily seen, for they have a fresher colour than the rest; and the whole shell, in some measure, resembles an old coat patched with new pieces.

Both wit and understanding are trifles, without integrity; it is that which gives value to every character. The ignorant peasant without fault is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without an heart?

The miscellaneous poetry of this age is nothing like the last; it is very poor.

The country blooms—a garden, and a grave.

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

There are a hundred faults in this Thing and a hundred things might be said to prove them beauties.

assailant

Now, Sir, for my own part, as I naturally hate the face of a tyrant, the farther off he is removed from me, the better pleased am I. The generality of mankind also are of my way of thinking, and have unanimously created one king, whose election at once diminishes the number of tyrants, and puts tyranny at the greatest distance from the greatest number of people.

Now, therefore, I began to associate with none but disappointed authors like myself, who praised, deplored, and despised each other. The satisfaction we found in every celebrated writer's attempts was inversely as their merits. My unfortunate paradoxes had entirely dried up that source of comfort. I could neither read nor write with satisfaction; for excellence in another was my aversion, and writing was my trade.

Thus the people, who could not bear the very name of king, readily submitted to a magistrate possessed of much greater power; so much do the names of things mislead us, and so little is any form of government irksome to the people, when it coincides with their prejudices.

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 prospects 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 mental eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.

During the late separation, all tillage had been entirely neglected, and a famine was the consequence the ensuing season. 2. The senate did all that lay in their power to remedy the distress; but the people, pinched with want and willing to throw the blame on any but themselves, ascribed the whole of their distress to the avarice of the patricians, who, having purchased all the corn, as was alleged, intended to indemnify themselves for the abolition of debts, by selling it out to great advantage. 3. But plenty soon after appeased them for a time. A fleet of ships, laden with corn, from Sicily, once more raised their spirits.

And don’t call me ‘my lord.’ That’s what servants do. You’re my fiancée, remember?” He sounded irritated. “I’ll call you Maria, and you should probably call me by my Christian name-Oliver.” An unusual name for an English lord. “Where you named after the playwright, Oliver Goldsmith?” “Alas, no. I was named after the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell.” “You’re joking.” “Afraid not. My father thought it amusing, considering his own…er…tendency toward debauchery.” Lord help her, the man’s very name was a jab at respectability. Meanwhile, his estate could probably hold the entire town of Dartmouth! A sudden panic seized her. How could she pretend to be the fiancée of a man who owned a house like that? “I was named after King Frederick,” Freddy put in. “Which one?” asked Lord Stoneville. Oliver. “There’s more than one?” Freddy asked. “There’s at least ten,” the marquess said dryly. Freddy knit his brow. “I’m not sure which one.” When humor glinted in Oliver’s eyes, Maria said, “I think Aunt Rose was aiming for a generally royal-sounding name.” “That’s it,” Freddy put in. “Just a King Frederick in general.” “I see,” Oliver said solemnly, though his lips had a decided twitch. His gaze flicked to her. “What about you? Which Maria are you named after?” “The Virgin Mary, of course,” Freddy said. “Of course,” Oliver said, eyes gleaming. “I should have known.” “We’re Catholic,” Freddy added. “My mother was Catholic,” Maria corrected him. “Papa wasn’t, but since Freddy’s mother is, too, we were both raised Catholic.” Not that she’d ever taken any of it very seriously. Papa had always railed against the foolishness of religion. A devious smile broke over Oliver’s face. “A Catholic, too? Oh, this just gets better and better. Gran will have an apoplectic fit when she meets you.” Tired of his insulting comments about her background, she said, “Really, sir-“ “We’re here,” he announced as the coach pulled to a halt.

«Если б Вы вздумали писать сказку для маленьких рыбок, они бы у Вас в книге разговаривали языком исполинских китов». Голдсмит – Джонсону

Puedes predicar un mejor sermón con tu vida que con tus labios. OLIVER GOLDSMITH

It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition. In the first case we cook the dish to our own appetite; in the latter nature cooks it for us.

but in our minds these stories remind us that we are always waiting, and remind us of what we are waiting for — a respite, a touch of grace, something simple that starts us wondering. I am reminded of Oliver Goldsmith, who said, two hundred years ago, “Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is wisdom.

Every absurdity has a champion to defend it. Oliver Goldsmith (1728 – 74)

Those relations which describe the tricks and vices only of mankind, by increasing our suspicion in life, retard our success. The traveller that distrusts every person he meets, and turns back upon the appearance of every man that looks like a robber, seldom arrives in time at his journey’s end. ‘Indeed I think from my own experience, that the knowing one is the silliest fellow under the sun. I was thought cunning from my very childhood; when but seven years old the ladies would say that I was a perfect little man; at fourteen I knew the world, cocked my hat, and loved the ladies; at twenty, though I was perfectly honest, yet every one thought me so cunning, that not one would trust me. Thus I was at last obliged to turn sharper in my own defence, and have lived ever since, my head throbbing with schemes to deceive, and my heart palpitating with fears of detection. ‘I used often to laugh at your honest simple neighbour Flamborough, and one way or another generally cheated him once a year. Yet still the honest man went forward without suspicion, and grew rich, while I still continued tricksy and cunning, and was poor, without the consolation of being honest.

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

However, when any one of our relations was found to be a person of 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 an horse of small value, and I always had the satisfaction of finding he never came back to return them. By this the house was cleared of such as we did not like; but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor dependent out of doors.

1. "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon 2. "In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost 3. "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." - Confucius 4. "The purpose of our lives is to be happy." - Dalai Lama 5. "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller 6. "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it." - Charles R. Swindoll 7. "The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." - Oprah Winfrey 8. "Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet." - Sarah Louise Delany 9. "Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations." - Oliver Goldsmith 10. "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it." - Lou Holtz

Perish the baubles! Your person is all I desire.

Blest that abode, where want and pain repair, And every stranger finds a ready chair;

Laws grind the poor And rich men rule the law. Oliver Goldsmith, ‘The Traveller

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies.

Oliver Goldsmith observed, “laws grind the poor and the rich men grind the law.

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall." — Oliver Goldsmith

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