Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmithwas 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 Manand She Stoops to Conquer. He is thought to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth10 November 1730
CountryIreland
winter rocks mountain
No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array, But winter lingering chills the lap of May; No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast, But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest.
hands play perfect
Popular glory is a perfect coquette; her lovers must toil, feel every inquietude, indulge every caprice, and perhaps at last be jilted into the bargain. True glory, on the other hand, resembles a woman of sense; her admirers must play no tricks. They feel no great anxiety, for they are sure in the end of being rewarded in proportion to their merit.
children men humanity
Were I to be angry at men being fools, I could here find ample room for declamation; but, alas! I have been a fool myself; and why should I be angry with them for being something so natural to every child of humanity?
eye home sight
The Europeans are themselves blind who describe fortune without sight. No first-rate beauty ever had finer eyes, or saw more clearly. They who have no other trade but seeking their fortune need never hope to find her; coquette-like, she flies from her close pursuers, and at last fixes on the plodding mechanic who stays at home and minds his business.
friends blessing dwelling
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, And round his dwelling guardian saints attend.
heart men gains
A man's own heart must ever be given to gain that of another.
greatness style way
The way to acquire lasting esteem is not by the fewness of a writer's faults, but the greatness of his beauties, and our noblest works are generally most replete with both.
talking errors talkative
Error is always talkative.
want virtue prudence
Want of prudence is too frequently the want of virtue.
opposites two opinion
In two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right.
marriage thinking done
You, that are going to be married, think things can never be done too fast: but we that are old, and know what we are about, must elope methodically, madam.
fool praying
And fools who came to scoff remain'd to pray.
peppers callous please
Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.
adventure scholar
The life of a scholar seldom abounds with adventure.