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Oliver Goldsmith on Birthday

1728–1774 Ireland

← All quotes by Oliver Goldsmith

8 quotes

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

The Good-Natur'd Man (1768)

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

The Deserted Village (1770)

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

The Traveller (1764)

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)

And what is friendship but a name,
A charm that lulls to sleep,
A shade that follows wealth or fame,
And leaves the wretch to weep?

The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

They say women and music should never be dated.

She Stoops to Conquer (1771)

He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack,
For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.

Retaliation (1774)

O blest retirement! friend to life's decline—
Retreats from care, that never must be mine
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease!

The Deserted Village (1770)

Attribution

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