Oliver Goldsmith: Man

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

“These little things are great to little man.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 42.

“The best-humour'd man, with the worst-humour'd Muse.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Postscript.
Retaliation (1774)

“Here lies David Garrick, describe me, who can,
An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 93.

“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.

“The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.”

Oliver Goldsmith book The Vicar of Wakefield

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 5.

“A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.”

Oliver Goldsmith The Deserted Village

Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 141.

“I was ever of the opinion that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population.”

Oliver Goldsmith book The Vicar of Wakefield

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 1, opening lines.

“Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.”

Oliver Goldsmith

Source: The Traveller (1764), Line 126.

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

Oliver Goldsmith book The Vicar of Wakefield

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 8.

“The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.”

Oliver Goldsmith book The Vicar of Wakefield

Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 17, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, st. 8.