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Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

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Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet, and physician. He is best known for his novel 'The Vicar of Wakefield' and his plays 'She Stoops to Conquer' and 'The Good-Natur'd Man'. Goldsmith's works are characterized by their wit, humor, and moral depth.

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Famous Oliver Goldsmith Quotes

“I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too. No, sir, these, I protest you, are too hard for me.”

Want Hard Argument Intellect Protest Want Me You Want Me

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“The more various our artificial necessities, the wider is our circle of pleasure; for all pleasure consists in obviating necessities as they rise; luxury, therefore, as it increases our wants, increases our capacity for happiness”

Want Pleasure Capacity Increase Various Circles Luxury Artificial

Book:His Works

Source: His Works

“All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little.”

Want Littles Wife Husband Appreciated Wedding Toast

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“If the soul be happily disposed, every thing becomes capable of affording entertainment, and distress will almost want a name.”

Ifs Want Soul Names Capable Entertainment Distress Cheerfulness Affording

Book:Poems and essays

Source: Poems and essays

“Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire; Blest that abode, where want and pain repair, And every stranger finds a ready chair Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd, Where all the ruddy family around Laugh at the jest or pranks, that never fail, Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale, Or press the bashful stranger to his food, And learn the luxury of doing good.”

Source: Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith: With a New Life of the Author

“Every want that stimulates the breast becomes a source of pleasure when redressed.”

Want Pleasure Source Breasts

Book:The Vicar of Wakefield: Together with the Poems ...

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield: Together with the Poems ...

“Want of prudence is too frequently the want of virtue.”

Want Virtue Prudence

Book:The Beauties of Goldsmith

Source: The Beauties of Goldsmith

“The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”

Want Use Speech Use It Or Lose It

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.”

Men Want Life Littles Long Inspirational Life

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“We may affirm of Mr. Buffon, that which has been said of the chemists of old; though he may have failed in attaining his principal aim, of establishing a theory, yet he has brought together such a multitude of facts relative to the history of the earth, and the nature of its fossil productions, that curiosity finds ample compensation, even while it feels the want of conviction.”

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

“Write how you want, the critic shall show the world you could have written better.”

World Want Writing Shows Written Criticism Critics

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“If frugality were established in the state, and if our expenses were laid out to meet needs rather than superfluities of life, there might be fewer wants, and even fewer pleasures, but infinitely more happiness.”

Ifs Want Life Needs States Might Happiness Pleasure Inner Peace Expenses Fewer Frugality

Author:Oliver Goldsmith

“Blest that abode, where want and pain repair, And every stranger finds a ready chair.”

Want Pain Ready Stranger Chairs Thank You Hospitality Abode

Book:The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces

Source: The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces