Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Upon approaching the glass, I could readily perceive vanity, affectation, and some other ill-looking blots on her mind; wherefore by my advice she immediately set about mending."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Thus saying, she retired with a sullen satisfaction, resolved not to mend her faults, but to write a criticism on the mental reflector."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"I must own, by this time I began myself to suspect the fidelity of my mirror; for as the ladies appeared at least to have the merit of rising early, since they were up at five, I was amazed to find nothing of this good quality pictured upon their minds in the reflection; I was resolved therefore...

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Here it was that I exulted in my success; no blot, no stain, appeared on any part of the faithful mirror. As when the large, unwritten page presents its snowy spotless bosom to the writer's hand; so appeared the glass to my view."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"YOUR last letters betray a mind seemingly fond of wisdom, yet tempested up by a thousand various passions."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"You would fondly persuade me that my former lessons still influence your conduct, and yet your mind seems not less enslaved than your body."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Knowlege, wisdom, erudition, arts and elegance what are they, but the mere trappings of the mind, if they do not serve to encrease the happiness of the possessor?"

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"A mind rightly instituted in the school of philosophy, acquires at once the stability of the oak, and the flexibility of the osier."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"The soul may be compared to a field of battle, where two armies are ready every moment to encounter; not a single vice but has a more powerful opponent; and not one virtue but may be overborne by a combination of vices."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Reason guides the bands of either host, nor can it subdue one passion but by the assistance of another."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)