“To be instructed, one must first be willing to be instructed.” — Oliver Goldsmith | V2Melody

“To be instructed, one must first be willing to be instructed.”

Making receptiveness the necessary beginning of learning · Prose remark, commonly attributed to Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith

About Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith

c. 10 November 1728–4 April 1774

Oliver Goldsmith, born probably on 10 November 1728 and dead on 4 April 1774, lived only forty-five years, yet he became one of the most various, humane, and enduring voices in eighteenth-century English literature. He was an Irishman who made his reputation in London, a clergyman’s son who never settled into a…

More by Oliver Goldsmith

Poems by Oliver Goldsmith

The wretch condemn'd with life to part Listen

More remarks by Oliver Goldsmith

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

A wry acknowledgement that endurance matters more than comfortable circumstances · Prose work, commonly attributed to The Citizen of the World

Hope
Life

“People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.”

Suggesting that growth depends on humility and the example of others · The Vicar of Wakefield

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

Reflecting on the emotional power of anticipation compared with fulfilment · Prose work, commonly attributed to Oliver Goldsmith

Hope
Time