Oliver Goldsmith

I have spent my life laboriously doing nothing.
[Lat., Vitam perdidi laboricose agendo.]

I have spent my life laboriously doing nothing.
[Lat., Vitam perdidi laboricose agendo.]

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.

A flattering painter, who made it his care
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they read more

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

Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the read more

Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the least manageable and the most likely to stray from the course. Great abilities have always been less serviceable to the possessors than moderate ones.

So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.

So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.