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Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

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Famous Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

“Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; There as I passed, with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came soften'd from below; The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung, The sober herd that low'd to meet their young; The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school; The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind; These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made.”

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Author:Oliver Goldsmith
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“Man little knows what calamities are beyond his patience to bear till he tries them; as in ascending the heights of ambition, which look bright from below, every step we rise shows us some new and gloomy prospect of hidden disappointment; so in our descent from the summits of pleasure, though the vale of misery below may appear, at first, dark and gloomy, yet the busy mind, still attentive to its own amusement, finds, as we descend, something to flatter and to please. Still as we approach, the darkest objects appear to brighten, and the mortal eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.”

KnowsMenTryingMindFirstsLooksMayLittlesStillsShowsEyeDarkPleasureSituationStepsObjectsBearsPleaseAmbitionApproachExperienceMiseryBusyDisappointmentMortalsHeightAmusementSummitCalamityEvery StepAdaptedGloomyDescentAscending
Book:The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Poetical works. Dramas. The vicar of Wakefield
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“Thus love is the most easy and agreeable, and gratitude the most humiliating, affection of the mind. We never reflect on the man we love without exulting in our choice, while he who has bound us to him by benefits alone rises to our ideas as a person to whom we have in some measure forfeited our freedom.”

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Book:The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With an Account of His Life and Writings
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“There is yet a silent agony in which the mind appears to disdain all external help, and broods over its distresses with gloomy reserve. This is the most dangerous state of mind; accidents or friendships may lessen the louder kinds of grief, but all remedies for this must be had from within, and there despair too often finds the most deadly enemy.”

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Book:The Works of Oliver Goldsmith
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“Processions, cavalcades, and all that fund of gay frippery, furnished out by tailors, barbers, and tire-women, mechanically influence the mind into veneration; an emperor in his nightcap would not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown.”

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Book:Miscellaneous Works: To which is Prefixed Some Account of His Life and Writings
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“The Europeans are themselves blind who describe fortune without sight. No first-rate beauty ever had finer eyes, or saw more clearly. They who have no other trade but seeking their fortune need never hope to find her; coquette-like, she flies from her close pursuers, and at last fixes on the plodding mechanic who stays at home and minds his business.”

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Book:Miscellaneous Works: To which is Prefixed Some Account of His Life and Writings
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“The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.”

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Book:Goldsmith's Deserted village, with remarks on the analysis of sentences, exercises in parsing, notes ... and a life of the poet ... By Walter M'Leod
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“Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind; Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote. Who too deep for his hearers still went on refining, And thought of convincing while they thought of dining: Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.”

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Author:Oliver Goldsmith
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