Quotes by Oliver Goldsmith

• Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.
• 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.
• Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.
• Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same.
• Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw.
• 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.
• All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little.
• 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.
• If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.
• 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!
• Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.
• People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.
• Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.
• On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting, 'Twas only when he was off, he was acting.
• Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.
• Man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long.
• Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
• Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet.
• Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.
• 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.
• Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
• Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning, Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genius a better discerning.
• Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes.
• I love everything that's old, - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.
• Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.
• Girls like to be played with, and rumpled a little too, sometimes.
• Honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
• Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.
• I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.
• The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.
• 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.
• 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?
• Where wealth accumulates, men decay.
• 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.
• You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
• Tenderness is a virtue.
• Life is a journey, not a destination. Embrace the detours, for they may lead you to unexpected treasures.
• Success is not about how high you climb, but how many times you choose to rise after you fall.
• Life is a journey, not a destination. Embrace the detours, for they may lead you to the most beautiful destinations.
• Life is a journey, not a destination; embrace the detours and unexpected paths along the way.
• Life is a journey, not a destination; make sure to enjoy the ride.
• Life is a journey that must be traveled, no matter how rough the road may be.
• Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations
• Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how long or short.
• The difference between trying and triumph is just a little umph!
• Life is too important to be taken seriously, so don't forget to laugh at your own punchlines!
• Success isn’t just about climbing the ladder; sometimes it’s realizing the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall all along.
• Life is too important to be taken seriously, so wear your smile like a crown and don't forget that laughter is the best currency.
• Success is not the position you stand, but the direction in which you move.
• Success is getting up one more time than you fall down.