Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer . He is thought to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes . Wikipedia
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Variant: Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Source: The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith
“I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.”
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act I
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield
“Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is, at home.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 73.
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 51.
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 29, Song, st. 1.
“A flattering painter, who made it his care
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.”
Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 63.
The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter XV https://books.google.it/books?id=cIELAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA44.
Variant: A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant knew:
Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the bust whisper, circling round,
Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned;
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault;
The village all declared how much he knew;
'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 199.
“It seemed to be pretty plain, that they had more of love than matrimony in them.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 16.
“The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love,
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 29.
“All his faults are such that one loves him still the better for them.”
Act I.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)
Act I.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)
The Art of Poetry on a New Plan (1761), vol. ii. p. 147.
The saying "he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day" dates at least as far back as Menander (ca. 341–290 B.C.), Gnomai Monostichoi, aphorism #45: ἀνήρ ὁ ϕɛύγων καὶ ράλίν μαχήɛṯαί (a man who flees will fight again). The Attic Nights (book 17, ch. 21) of Aulus Gellius (ca. 125–180 A.D.) indicates it was already widespread in the second century: "...the orator Demosthenes sought safety in flight from the battlefield, and when he was bitterly taunted with his flight, he jestingly replied in the well-known verse: The man who runs away will fight again".
“That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 5.
“By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd;
The sports of children satisfy the child.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 153.
“Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs.”
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act III
Variant: Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies.
Source: The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith
“To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 21.
“[To Mr. Johnson] If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.”
From James Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), April 27, 1773.
“Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails,
And honor sinks where commerce long prevails.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 91.
Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 107.
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 7.
“Here lies David Garrick, describe me, who can,
An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man.”
Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 93.
“Even children followed with endearing wile,
And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 183.
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 1.
“The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 121.
“Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 413.
From James Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), October 26, 1769.
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 265.
“So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar
But bind him to his native mountains more.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 217.
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act I
“But winter lingering chills the lap of May.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 172.
“Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine!”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 50.
“Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go,
Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 344.
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 9.
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 4.
The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter VII.
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 157.
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 167.
“We are the boys
That fear no noise
Where the thundering cannons roar.”
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act II
“The very pink of perfection.”
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act I
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act II
“The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 5.
“The canvas glow'd beyond ev'n Nature warm,
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.”
Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 137.
“We modest Gentlemen don't want for much success among the women.”
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act IV
Preface.
The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 29, Song, st. 2.
Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 29.
“Where village statesmen talked with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 223.
Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 24.
“Oh sir! I must not tell my age.
They say women and music should never be dated.”
She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act III
“I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 7.
“To what happy accident is it that we owe so unexpected a visit?”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 19.
“A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.”
Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 141.
Act II.
The Captivity, An Oratorio (1764)
