Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that being a poet is both challenging and rewarding, with the implication that one could live purely by the craft if it were not fraught with difficulties.
Oliver Goldsmith highlights the dual nature of being a poet: while it can be a fulfilling and enriching occupation, it also comes with its share of struggles and dissatisfaction. The essence of the quote reflects on the artistic endeavor of poetry, suggesting that poets may find their work both a source of pleasure and a challenge, underpinning the complexity of creative expression.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the struggles of artistic professions during a creative writing workshop.
More from Oliver Goldsmith
All quotes βA mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined.
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
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.
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.
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.
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Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
The goal of design is to raise the expectation of what design can be
It's always a nice feeling, having people think that you feel things much deeper than you're allowed to say, but this isn't true. If you want to find out what a writer or a cartoonist really feels, look at his work. That's enough.