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Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

1728–1774 Ireland

Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and physician.

Ireland
Essayists
Novelists
Playwrights
Poets

Also known as: Goldsmith, Oliver

Random Oliver Goldsmith quote

203 quotes

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

The Traveller (1764)

Even children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.

The Deserted Village (1770)

And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy.

The Deserted Village (1770)

For just experience tells, in every soil,
That those who think must govern those that toil.

The Traveller (1764)

Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is, at home.

The Traveller (1764)

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

The Traveller (1764)

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

The Traveller (1764)

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

The Traveller (1764)

The wretch condemn'd with life to part,
Still, still on hope relies;
And every pang that rends the heart
Bids expectation rise.

While resignation gently slopes the way;
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.

The Deserted Village (1770)

As aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crush'd or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.

The Captivity, An Oratorio (1764)

The best-humour'd man, with the worst-humour'd Muse.

Retaliation (1774)

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.

The Traveller (1764)

The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.

The Deserted Village (1770)

Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days
Have led their children through the mirthful maze,
And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore,
Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore.

The Traveller (1764)

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

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

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

The Traveller (1764)

Though equal to all things, for all things unfit;
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.

Retaliation (1774)

Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill;
Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still.

The Traveller (1764)

And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head should carry all it knew.

The Deserted Village (1770)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Oliver Goldsmith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.