More from Oliver Goldsmith

  1. [To Mr. Johnson] If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.
  2. For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he who is in battle slain Can never rise and fight again.
  3. There is no arguing with Johnson: for if his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it.
  4. 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.
  5. Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It's like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt.
  6. As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent.
  7. Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a …
  8. Good people all, with one acord, Lament for Madame Blaize, Who never wanted a good word - From those who spoke her praise.

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