Oliver Goldsmith

Ireland
10 Nov 1728 // 4 Apr 1774
Writer, Poet

Quotes

<< Prev Next >>

Turn, gentle Hermit of the Dale,
And guide my lonely way
To where yon taper cheers the vale
With hospitable ray.

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

The Vicar of Wakefield
A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad
When he put on his clothes.

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog
To the last moment of his breath,
On hope the wretch relies;
And even the pang preceding death
Bids expectation rise.

The Captivity

And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,
And curs of low degree.

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

Good people all, with one accord,
Lament for Madam Blaize,
Who never wanted a good word
From those who spoke her praise.

Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.

The Captivity
While Resignation gently slopes away,
And all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.

The Deserted Village
Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies.
Methinks her patient sons before me stand,
Where the broad ocean leans against the land.

The Traveller
Absence, like death, sets a seal on the image of those we love: we cannot realize the intervening changes which time may have effected.
<< Prev Next >>
Search

 

On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays