“The nakedness of the indigent world may be clothed from the trimmings of the vain.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale
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Famous Oliver Goldsmith Quotes
“Thou source of all my bliss and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.”
“No one but a fool would measure their satisfaction by what the world thinks of it.”
“He makes a very handsome corpse and becomes his coffin prodigiously.”
“The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”
“Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.”
“True generosity is a duty as indispensably necessary as those imposed on us by law.”
Source: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield
Source: Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With a New Life of the Author
Source: Goldsmith's miscellaneous works
Source: A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature
Source: Letters from a Citizen of the World to His Friends in the East ...
Source: A history of the earth and animated nature, with an intr. view of the animal kingdom tr. from the Fr. of baron Cuvier, notes [and] a life of the author by W. Irving
Source: The miscellaneous works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: with a biographical memoir of the author, written expressly for this edition
“Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.”
“Both wit and understanding are trifles without integrity.”
Source: The Beauties of Goldsmith, Or, The Complete Treasury of Genius: To which is Prefixed the Life of the Author
“Write how you want, the critic shall show the world you could have written better.”
“All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them.”
“Wisdom makes a slow defense against trouble, though a sure one in the end.”
“I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale
“When a person has no need to borrow they find multitudes willing to lend.”
Source: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The bee. Essays. Unacknowledged essays. Prefaces, introductions, etc
Source: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield
Source: The vicar of Wakefield, etc. (University edition.)
Source: The works of Oliver Goldsmith: Vicar of Wakefield, select poems and comedies, with intr., notes and a life by J.F. Waller
“Death when unmasked shows us a friendly face and is a terror only at a distance.”
Source: The miscellaneous works of Oliver Goldsmith
Source: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Comprising His Poems, Comedies, Essays, and Vicar of Wakefield
“The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself.”
“The malicious sneer is improperly called laughter.”
Source: The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces
“It seemed to me pretty plain, that they had more of love than matrimony in them.”
“Good counsel rejected returns to enrich the givers bosom.”
Source: The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces
“Vain, very vain, my weary search to find That bliss which only centers in the mind.”
Source: A History of the Earth: And Animated Nature
“Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace the day's disasters in his morning face.”