Oliver Goldsmith

“A great source of calamity lies in regret and anticipation; therefore a person is wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or future.”

“As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent; whence must necessarily arise a desire of attaining knowledge with the greatest possible ease.”

“Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.”

“When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy, what art can wash her guilt away?”

“Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss!”

“Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same.”

“The hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowded with fruition.”

“They say women and music should never be dated.”

“With disadvantages enough to bring him to humility, a Scotsman is one of the proudest things alive.”

“Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning, Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genius a better discerning.”

“Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.”

“If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.”

“I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.”

“I was ever of the opinion, that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population.”

“Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.”

“Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.”

“The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.”

“A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.”

“I love everything that's old, - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.”

“All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little.”