Date: 1766

"As a bird that had been frighted from its nest, my affections out-went my haste, and hovered around my little fire-side, with all the rapture of expectation."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"Every tender epithet bestowed on her sister brought a pang to her heart and a tear to her eye; and as one vice, tho' cured, ever plants others where it has been, so her former guilt, tho' driven out by repentance, left jealousy and envy behind."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"I found all my passions alarmed at this new degrading proposal; for though the mind may often be calm under great injuries, little villainy can at any time get within the soul, and sting it into rage."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"Would you have me tamely sit down and flatter our infamous betrayer; and to avoid a prison continually suffer the more galling bonds of mental confinement! No, never. If we are to be taken from this abode, only let us hold to the right, and wherever we are thrown, we can still retire to a charmi...

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"My fancy draws that harmless groupe as listening to every line of this with great composure."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"And let me tell you, Sir, that I give you no small treasure, she has been celebrated for beauty it is true, but that is not my meaning, I give you up a treasure in her mind."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"Perhaps I may catch up even one from the gulph, and that will be great gain; for is there upon earth a gem so precious as the human soul?"

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"Their insensibility excited my highest compassion, and blotted my own uneasiness a while from my mind."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"We should then find that creatures, whose souls are held as dross, only wanted the hand of a refiner; we should then find that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in times of danger."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)