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
boys fear noise thundering
We are the boys / That fear no noise / Where the thundering cannons roar.
school boys years
A boy will learn more true wisdom in a public school in a year than by a private education in five. It is not from masters, but from their equals, that youth learn a knowledge of the world.
exercise boys lessons
As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be taught them is to admire frugality. It is by the exercise of this virtue alone they can ever expect to be useful members of society.
agree sugar
Our Garrick's a salad; for in him we see, Oil, vinegar, sugar and saltiness agree
commerce contentment freedom honor prevails wealth
Where wealth and freedom reign; contentment fails, And honor sinks where commerce long prevails
looks news older statesmen talked village
Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, / And news much older than their ale went round.
direct management pretend
Who can direct when all pretend to know?
belongs defined human ill prove rational
Logicians have but ill defined As rational the human mind. Logic, they say, belongs to man, But let them prove it if they can.
musical taste
With other fashionable topics, such as pictures, taste, Shakespeare, and the musical glasses.
nice proud
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
laughter laughing way
The best way to make your audience laugh is to start laughing yourself.
people desire thousand
People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.
poor source thou
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe, / That foundst me poor at first, and keepst me so.
irish-poet men rich rule
Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.