Оливер Голдсмит цитаты

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„Люблю всё старое: старых друзей, старые времена, старые обычаи, старые книги, старые вина.“

„Не задавай мне вопросов, и я ни в чем не солгу тебе.“

„Добродетель, нуждающаяся в постоянной охране, не стоит того, чтобы держать для нее стража.“

„Английские законы карают преступление, китайские идут дальше: они ещё вознаграждают добродетель.“

„Предоставленные самими себе, мы вынуждены сами ковать и искать свое счастье.“

„Мы равнодушно принимаем заслуженные комплименты и с признательностью выслушиваем те, на которые, насколько нам известно, мы не имеем никакого права.“

„Законодательство — жернов, мелющий бедных и приводимый в движение богатыми.“

„Молчание — знак согласия.“

„Что такое дружба? Слово, иллюзия, очаровывающая нас, тень, следующая за счастьем и исчезающая в часы несчастья!“

„Душевные свойства женщины обычно определяются её внешним обликом.“

„Первый удар — половина дела.“

„Как ни был невежествен Голдсмит, мало кто из писателей сделал больше для того, чтобы первые трудные шаги в науке стали для читателя лёгкими и приятными. Его компиляции очень отличны от обычных компиляций всяких писак. Он был замечательным, я бы даже сказал, неподражаемым мастером отбора и концентрации материала.“

„Пора предвкушений много слаще той, что увенчана исполнением наших желаний. В первом случае мы готовим себе блюдо сами, по собственному вкусу, во втором — его готовит для нас жизнь.“

„Женщин и музыкальные произведения датировать не рекомендуется.“

„Нет такого нелепого заблуждения, которое не нашло бы своего защитника.“

„Одна и та же философия — норовистая лошадь в стойле, но дохлая кляча в пути.“

„Декан Свифт <…> понял, что ко всем предшествовавшим ему произведениям поэтов примешан романтический дух, или, другими словами, что они описывали природу с самой приятной стороны. Поэтому для него всё ещё оставалось место, которое, не заботясь о порицании, должно было описать таким, каким оно было, со всеми уродствами; поэтому он прославился не столько величием своего гения, сколько смелостью оного.“

“By the living jingo, she was all of a muck of sweat.”

“Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po.”

“Good people all, with one acord,
Lament for Madame Blaize,
Who never wanted a good word —
From those who spoke her praise.”

“Measures, not men, have always been my mark.”

“A nightcap decked his brows instead of bay,
A cap by night — a stocking all the day!”

“Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose,
Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.”

“His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.”

“His conduct still right, with his argument wrong.”

“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.”

“The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.”

“We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favors.”

“Let us draw upon Content for the deficiencies of fortune.”

“In all the silent manliness of grief.”

“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”

“The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”

“He calls his extravagance, generosity; and his trusting everybody, universal benevolence.”

“Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.”

“The better sort here pretend to the utmost compassion for animals of every kind. To hear them speak, a stranger would be apt to imagine they could hardly hurt the gnat that stung them: they seem so tender and so full of pity, that one would take them for the harmless friends of the whole creation; the protectors of the meanest insect or reptile that was privileged with existence. And yet, would you believe it? I have seen the very men who have thus boasted of their tenderness, at the same time devouring the flesh of six different animals toasted up in a fricassee. Strange contrariety of conduct! they pity and they eat the objects of their compassion.”

“And learn the luxury of doing good.”

“Our Garrick's a salad; for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!”

“One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title page, another works away at the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.”

“The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love,
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.”

“Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of humankind pass by.”

“As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent.”

“Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.”

“Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.
Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And e'en his failings leaned to Virtue's side.”

“Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.”

“Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the busy whisper circling round
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd.
Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault;
The village all declar'd how much he knew,
'T was certain he could write and cipher too.”

“A flattering painter, who made it his care
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.”