Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

…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.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

He who seeks for applause only from without has all his happiness in another's keeping.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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!

~ Oliver Goldsmith

A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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.

~ Oliver Goldsmith

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

~ Oliver Goldsmith