Quotations by:
    Goldsmith, Oliver


Villainy, when detected, never gives up, but boldly adds impudence to imposture.

Goldsmith - impudence to imposture - wist_info quote

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
“A City Night-Piece,” The Bee, #4 (27 Oct 1759)
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Added on 3-Jun-16 | Last updated 3-Jun-16
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People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.

Goldsmith - no other model - wist_info quote

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
“On Our Theaters,” The Bee, #11 (13 Oct 1759)
 
Added on 14-Jul-16 | Last updated 14-Jul-16
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You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 15-Jun-15
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As for disappointing them I should not so much mind; but I can’t abide to disappoint myself.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
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MRS. HARDCASTLE: See me, how calm I am.

MISS NEVILLE: Ay, people are generally calm at the misfortunes of others.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
She Stoops to Conquer, Act 3, sc. 1 (1773)
 
Added on 19-Apr-16 | Last updated 19-Apr-16
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The first blow is half the battle.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
She Stoops to Conquer, Act II (1773)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
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Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no fibs.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
She Stoops to Conquer, ch. 2 (1773)
 
Added on 26-Nov-12 | Last updated 26-Nov-12
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Aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crush’d or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Captivity, Act 1 (1764)
 
Added on 25-Mar-13 | Last updated 25-Mar-13
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Our greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Citizen of the World: or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the East, Letter 7 (1762)
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Ostensibly from a Chinese visitor to London, Lien Chi Altangi, the letters were written by Goldsmith and published in The Public Ledger in 1760-61. Letter 22 has the similar "True magnanimity consists not in NEVER falling, but in RISING every time we fall."

The saying is often attributed to Confucius (Letter 7's introduction implied that they were), but is not found in Confucius' work. The saying is also sometimes attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. See here for more discussion.
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 5-Jul-20
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Whichever way we look the prospect is disagreeable. Behind, we have left pleasures we shall never more enjoy, and therefore regret; and before we see pleasures which we languish to possess, and are, consequently, uneasy till we possess them.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Citizen of the World, Letter 44 (1762)
 
Added on 31-Mar-16 | Last updated 31-Mar-16
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There are some faults so nearly allied to excellence that we can scarce weed out the vice without eradicating the virtue.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Good-Natur’d Man, ch. 1 (1768)
 
Added on 21-Apr-10 | Last updated 21-Apr-10
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The ingratitude of the world can never deprive us of the conscious happiness of having acted with humanity ourselves.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Good-Natur’d Man, ch. 3 (1768)
 
Added on 25-Feb-11 | Last updated 25-Feb-11
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Blame where you must, be candid where you can,
And be each critic the Good-Natured Man.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Good-Natur’d Man, Epilogue (1768)
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Added on 21-Mar-16 | Last updated 18-Mar-16
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Those masters who allege the incapacity of tender years, only tacitly reproach their own: those who are incapable of teaching young minds to reason, pretend that it is impossible. The truth is they are fonder of making their pupils talk well than think well; and much the greater number are better qualified to give praise to a ready memory than a sound judgment.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The History of England; in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to His Son, Letter 1 (1764)
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Added on 8-Jun-17 | Last updated 12-Jun-17
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Like the tiger, that seldom desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the reader, who has once gratified his appetite with calumny, makes ever after, the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputation.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Traveler; Or, A Prospect of Society (1764)
 
Added on 11-Apr-16 | Last updated 11-Apr-16
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Every absurdity has now a champion to defend it: and as he is generally much in the wrong, so he has always much to say; for error is ever talkative.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
The Traveller: Or, A Prospect of Society (1764)
 
Added on 7-Aug-14 | Last updated 7-Aug-14
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There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it.

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Irish poet, playwright, novelist
Comment (26 Oct 1769)

In James Boswell, Life of Johnson, "26 October 1769" (1791)
 
Added on 6-Jun-14 | Last updated 6-Jun-14
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