Oliver Goldsmith's Quotes

If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.

Man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long.

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

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

Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes.

Tenderness is a virtue.

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

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

The jests of the rich are ever successful.

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

They say women and music should never be dated.

With disadvantages enough to bring him to humility, a Scotsman is one of the proudest things alive.

Write how you want, the critic shall show the world you could have written better.

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.

I was ever of the opinion, that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population.

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

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

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.

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.

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

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

Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.

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!

Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.

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?

Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same.