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
real men might
What real good does an addition to a fortune already sufficient procure? Not any. Could the great man, by having his fortune increased, increase also his appetites, then precedence might be attended with real amusement.
sweet cottages might
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.
hurt healthy might
Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It 's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt.
men feelings might
It is impossible to combat enthusiasm with reason; for though it makes a show of resistance, it soon eludes the pressure, refers you to distinctions not to be understood, and feelings which it cannot explain. A man who would endeavor to fix an enthusiast by argument might as well attempt to spread quicksilver with his finger.
fond love taste
I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines; and, I believe, Dorothy, you'll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
felicity ourselves
Still to ourselves in every place consigned, / Our own felicity we make or find.
bashful glance looks
The bashful virgin's side-long looks of love,/ The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.
mere
I'm now no more than a mere lodger in my own house.
beneath sweet
Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.
land nurse
The land of scholars, and the nurse of arms.
game good royal rules twelve
The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.
laugh loud spoke vacant voice whispering
The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, / And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
govern thoughts-and-thinking
Those that think must govern those that toil.
absurdity champion defend error talkative
Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is always talkative