Courtney

“The beast retires to its shelter, and the bird flies to its nest; but the helpless man can only find refuge in his fellow creature.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“As the reputation of books is raised not by their freedom from defect, but the greatness of their beauties, so should that of men be prized not for their exemption from fault, but the size of those virtues they are possessed of.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield

“I armed her against the censures of the world, shewed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would at least teach us to endure it.”
― Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield