Oliver Goldsmith: Goodness

Oliver Goldsmith was Irish physician and writer. Explore interesting quotes on goodness.
Oliver Goldsmith: 268 quotes12 likes

“Even children followed with endearing wile,
And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile.”

Oliver Goldsmith The Deserted Village

Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 183.

“Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a good man. I esteem, therefore, the traveller who instructs the heart, but despise him who only indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to mend himself and others, is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.”

Oliver Goldsmith book The Citizen of the World

The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter VII.

“Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such,
We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much;
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.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 29.

“Good people all, with one acord,
Lament for Madame Blaize,
Who never wanted a good word —
From those who spoke her praise.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize, st. 1.
The Bee (1759)

“And learn the luxury of doing good.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 22.

“Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain,
With grammar, and nonsense, and learning;
Good liquor, I stoutly maintain,
Gives genus a better discerning.”

Oliver Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act I

“Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 26.

“This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Act I.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)

“Travellers, George, must pay in all places: the only difference is, that in good inns, you pay dearly for your luxuries, and in bad inns you are fleeced and starved.”

Oliver Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer (1771), Act II

“The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.”

Oliver Goldsmith The Deserted Village

Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 232.