| John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
| NUMBER: | 4296 |
| AUTHOR: | Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774) |
| QUOTATION: | Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,— A breath can make them, as a breath has made; 1 But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, When once destroy’d, can never be supplied. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | The Deserted Village. Line 51. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| Note 1. See Pope, Quotation 177. C’est un verre qui luit, Qu’un souffle peut détruire, et qu’un souffle a produit (It is a shining glass, which a breath may destroy, and which a breath has produced).—De Caux (comparing the world to his hour-glass). [back] |
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