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
guarded requires scarcely sentinel virtue worth
The virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarcely worth the sentinel
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.
fond former joys pain past recurring thou turning
O Memory, thou fond deceiver, Still importunate and vain, To former joys recurring ever, And turning all the past to pain
best care falls forward greatest life till
Life at the greatest and best is but a forward child, that must be humored and coaxed a little till it falls asleep, and then all the care is over.
irish-poet men rich rule
Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.
nice proud
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.
musical taste
With other fashionable topics, such as pictures, taste, Shakespeare, and the musical glasses.
eloquence rules speak subject thoroughly
To feel your subject thoroughly and to speak without fear, are the only rules of eloquence
arguing knocks misses pistol
There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it
happy limits splendid stand wide
How wide the limits stand / Between a splendid and an happy land.
cast knew pleased whistle
He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, for he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.
becomes coffin handsome
I am told he makes a very handsome corpse, and becomes his coffin prodigiously.
argument furnish intellects
I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too.