“I love everything that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“I armed her against the censure of the world, showed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would at least teach us to endure it.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“law grinds the poor, rich men rule the law”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“As the reputation of books is raised not by their freedom from defect, but the greatness of their beauties, so should that of men be prized not for their exemption from fault, but the size of those virtues they are possessed of.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“…The more enormous our wealth, the more extensive our fears, all our possessions are paled up with new edicts every day, and hung round with gibbets to scare every invader.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“The nakedness of the indignant world may be cloathed from the trimmings of the vain.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“What we place most hopes upon, generally proves most fatal.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“I have known many of those pretended champions for liberty in my time, yet do I not remember one that was not in his heart and in his family a tyrant.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“The beast retires to it's shelter, and the bird flies to it's nest; but the helpless man can only find refuge in his fellow creature.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“At this he laughed, and so did we: the jests of the rich are ever successful.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“We are not to judge of the feelings of others by what we might feel if in their place. However dark the habitation of the mole to our eyes, yet the animal itself finds the apartment sufficiently lightsome.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“the laws govern the poor, and the rich govern the law”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“Now, Sir, for my own part, as I naturally hate the face of a tyrant, the farther off he is removed from me, the better pleased am I. The generality of mankind also are of my way of thinking, and have unanimously created one king, whose election at once diminishes the number of tyrants, and puts tyranny at the greatest distance from the greatest number of people.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“My friends, my children, and fellow sufferers, when I reflect on the
distribution of good and evil here below, I find that much has been
given man to enjoy, yet still more to suffer. Though we should examine
the whole world, we shall not find one man so happy as to have nothing
left to wish for; but we daily see thousands who by suicide shew us they
have nothing left to hope. In this life then it appears that we cannot
be entirely blest; but yet we may be completely miserable!”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“Premature consolation is but the remembrancer of sorrow.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, quote from The Vicar of Wakefield
“Street people use cardboard all the time, and bum alleys are just shanties or lean-tos, though. They’re nothing like my house! Mine is deluxe! It’s a big, thick, super sturdy refrigerator box that I found at an appliance store!”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, quote from Runaway
“The continuing struggle was once described in the following metaphor by a patient who had successfully completed a long course of psychotherapy: 'I came to therapy hoping to receive butter for the bread of life. Instead, at the end, I emerged with a pail of sour milk, a churn, and instructions on how to use them.' (138)”
― quote from If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him: The Pilgrimage Of Psychotherapy Patients
“Here are some passing thoughts. Imagine looking up at the moon and seeing it burning.
Imagine seeing the grocery store’s checkout girl grow horns.
Imagine growing younger instead of older.
Imagine feeling more powerful and more capable of falling in love with life every new day instead of being scared and sick and not knowing whether to stay under a sheet or venture forth into the cold.”
― Douglas Coupland, quote from The Gum Thief
“Temples and churches have become social centers. They have lost their original purpose because the minds of the people are more attracted to worldly things than to prayer. The lips repeat the prayer mechanically like a phonograph record, but the mind wanders to other places. (23-24)”
― Patañjali, quote from The Yoga Sutras
“You are bad and mean and I'm going to spit on your cupcakes.”
― Sarra Manning, quote from Adorkable
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.