Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.

I hate the French because they are all slaves and wear wooden shoes.

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

To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.

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

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

On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting, 'Twas only when he was off, he was acting.

O Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree!

Let observation with observant view, Observe mankind from China to Peru.

Aspiring beggary is wretchedness itself.

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

Our chief comforts often produce our greatest anxieties, and the increase in our possessions is but an inlet to new disquietudes.

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

When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy, what art can wash her guilt away?

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.

An Englishman fears contempt more than death.

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

The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself.

The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.

I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.

The hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowded with fruition.

Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

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

Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.

The bounds of a man's knowledge are easily concealed, if he has but prudence.

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

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

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

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

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

Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry.

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!

Hope, like the gleaming taper

Persecution is a tribute the great must always pay for preeminence.

Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw.

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

Our Garrick 's a salad; for in him we see Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!

An emperor in his nightcap will not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown.

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.

Unequal combinations are always disadvantageous to the weaker side.

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

Our bounty, like a drop of water, disappears, when diffus'd too widely

Where wealth accumulates, men decay.

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

The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.

We seldom speak of the virtue which we have, but much oftener of that which we lack.

Politeness is the result of good sense and good nature.

True wisdom consists of tracing effects to their causes.

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

The very pink of perfection.