Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
What cities, as great as this, have... promised themselves immortality! Posterity can hardly trace the situation of some. The sorrowful traveller wanders over the awful ruins of others... Here stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile; temples and theatres stood here, now only an undistinguished heap of ruins.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the impermanence of cities and civilizations, highlighting that all great things eventually decline and fade.
Oliver Goldsmith's quote serves as a poignant reminder of the transience of human achievements and the inevitable decay that follows. It evokes a sense of melancholy as it illustrates how once-great cities, with their grandeur and significance, eventually succumb to time, nature, and neglect, leaving only ruins behind. The imagery of 'awful ruins' and 'noxious reptiles' conveys the stark contrast between past glory and present desolation, urging us to reflect on our own legacies in the face of mortality.
Themes
ImpermanenceDecayLegacyHistoryRuins
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the rise and fall of civilizations, this quote could emphasize the importance of preserving cultural heritage.
More from Oliver Goldsmith
All quotes →A mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Whatever the skill of any country may be in the sciences, it is from its excellence in polite learning alone that it must expect a character from posterity.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Life at the greatest and best is but a froward child, that must be humored and coaxed a little till it falls asleep, and then all the care is over.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,_x000D_ _x000D_ Adorns and cheers our way;_x000D_ _x000D_ And still, as darker grows the night,_x000D_ _x000D_ Emits a brighter ray.
Oliver GoldsmithRead
Similar quotes
For far too long we have been seduced into walking a path that did not lead us to ourselves. For far too long we have said yes when we wanted to say no. And for far too long we have said no when we desperately wanted to say yes. . . . When we don't listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don't, others will abandon us.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.
EpictetusRead
Some people operate in complete fear that they're gonna lose their stuff and their money. That sounds like hell to me. And then I guess some people operate with hands open, and maybe empty, but at least striving for a deeper understanding of what it means to care.
Adrianne LenkerRead
We with our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest... But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground.
William JamesRead
[Islam] is the dynamic conviction that a person's spiritual and worldly responsibilities are one and the same, that an individuals duty to the community is indistinguishable from his or her duty to God.
Reza AslanRead
Television is altering the meaning of 'being informed' by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation. Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information - misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information - information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing.
Neil PostmanRead