The wise weigh their words in the balance of the goldsmith. [ Ecclus ]

Never write except when you have something to say, and then say it simply - as Addison, Goldsmith, and Franklin wrote. [ Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Art Of Authorship, 1891 ]

We are more jealous of frivolous accomplishments with brilliant success, than of the most estimable qualities without. Dr. Johnson envied Garrick, whom he despised, and ridiculed Goldsmith, whom he loved. [ Hazlitt ]

Living authors, therefore, are usually bad companions. If they have not gained character, they seek to do so by methods often ridiculous, always disgusting; and if they have established a character, they are silent for fear of losing by their tongue what they have acquired by their pen - for many authors converse much more foolishly than Goldsmith, who have never written half so well. [ Colton ]