“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.”

Source: Retaliation (1774), Line 29.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much; Who, born for the …" by Oliver Goldsmith?

Oliver Goldsmith134

Irish physician and writer 1728–1774

Related quotes

“Turner will be placed in that class whose genious is such that we can never praise him too much or blame him too much.”

Charles Robert Leslie (1794–1859) British painter (1794-1859)

Autobiographical Recollections of C. R. Leslie with Selections from his correspondence

“I find that many men and women are troubled by the thought that they are too small and inconsequential in the scheme of things. But that is not our real trouble—we are actually too big and too complex, for God made us in His image and we are too big to be satisfied with what the world offers us! … Man is bored, because he is too big to be happy with that which sin is giving him. God has made him too great, his potential is too mighty.”

Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897–1963) American missionary

Who Put Jesus on the Cross, p. 170

“Hollywood dishes out too much praise for small things I won't let it get me, but too much praise can turn a fellow's head if he doesn't watch his step.”

Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997) American film and stage actor

As quoted in "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89" at CNN (2 July 1997)

“[T]his cancer of the mind which consists of thinking all too sadly that certain things 'are' while others, which well might be, 'are not.”

André Breton (1896–1966) French writer

Quote from Deuxième Manifeste du Surréalisme, Andre Breton (Second Manifesto of Surrealism; 1930)
1920's

“As people do better, they start voting like Republicans…unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.”

Karl Rove (1950) American political consultant and policy advisor

The New Yorker (February 19, 2001)

“A prince or general can best demonstrate his genius by managing a campaign exactly to suit his objectives and his resources, doing neither too much nor too little.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

On War (1832), Book 3

“The Outsider cannot accept life as it is, who cannot consider his own existence or anyone else's necessary. He sees 'too deep and too much.”

Colin Wilson book The Outsider

It is still a question of self-expression.
Source: The Outsider (1956), Chapter Four The Attempt to Gain Control

“Often we comfort ourselves only with words, but if we pray enough, the conviction will come too that Christ is our King, not Stalin, Bevins, or Truman. That He has all things in His hands, that 'all things work together for good for those that love Him.”

Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Social activist

On Pilgrimage (1948), p. 18

“A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things of which we have thought too much. In his death he has reminded us of the big things of life, the living truth, and if we remember that, then it will be well with India.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

The Light Has Gone Out (1948)

“Success treads on every right step. For the instinct is sure, that prompts him to tell his brother what he thinks. He then learns, that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts, is master to that extent of all men whose language he speaks, and of all into whose language his own can be translated.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Oliver Goldsmith134

Related quotes

Related topics