The collection / 362 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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362 results · Page 10 of 16Play this collection ▷

01c. 1751 AD

The bounds of a man's knowledge are easily concealed if he has but prudence.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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02c. 1751 AD

The company of fools may at first make us smile, but at last never fails of rendering us melancholy.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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03c. 1751 AD

The distant sounds of music, that catch new sweetness as they vibrate through the long-drawn valley, are not more pleasing to the ear than the tidings of a far-distant friend.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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04c. 1751 AD

The door must either be shut or it must be open. I must either be natural or unnatural.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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05c. 1751 AD

The earth must supply man with the necessaries of life before he has leisure or inclination to pursue more refined enjoyments.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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06c. 1751 AD

"The English," says Bishop Sprat, "have too much bravery to be derided, and too much virtue and honour to mock others."

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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07c. 1751 AD

The exacting a grateful acknowledgment is demanding a debt by which the creditor is not advantaged and the debtor pays with reluctance.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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08c. 1751 AD

The folly of others is ever most ridiculous to those who are themselves most foolish.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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09c. 1751 AD

The great source of calamity lies in regret or anticipation; he therefore is most wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or the future.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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10c. 1751 AD

The greatest object in the universe, says a certain philosopher, is a good man struggling with adversity; yet there is a still greater, which is the good man that comes to relieve it.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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11c. 1751 AD

The heart of every man lies open to the shafts of reproof if the archer can but take a proper aim.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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12c. 1751 AD

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

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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13c. 1751 AD

The ignorant peasant without fault is greater than the philosopher with many.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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14c. 1751 AD

The ingratitude of the world can never deprive us of the conscious happiness of having acted with humanity ourselves.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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15c. 1751 AD

The life of man is a journey; a journey that must be travelled, however bad the roads or the accommodation.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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16c. 1751 AD

The man who can thank himself alone for the happiness he enjoys is truly blest.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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17c. 1751 AD

The 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 only a vagabond.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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18c. 1751 AD

The mind becomes bankrupt under too large obligations. All additional benefits lessen every hope of future returns, and bar up every avenue that leads to tenderness.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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19c. 1751 AD

The mind is ever ingenious in making its own distress.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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20c. 1751 AD

The pain which conscience gives the man who has already done wrong is soon got over. Conscience is a coward; and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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21c. 1751 AD

The person who in company should pretend to be wiser than others, I am apt to regard as illiterate and ill-bred.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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22c. 1751 AD

The person who is contented to be often obliged ought not to be obliged at all.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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23c. 1751 AD

The person whose clothes are extremely fine I am too apt to consider as not being possessed of any superiority of fortune, but resembling those Indians who were found to wear all the gold they have in the world in a bob at the nose.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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24c. 1751 AD

The proudest boast of the most aspiring philosopher is no more than that he provides his little playfellows the greatest pastime with the greatest innocence.

Oliver Goldsmith / quote

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