Joseph Addison

We are growing serious, and, Let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.

— Joseph Addison

Antidotes are what you take to prevent dotes.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.

— Joseph Addison

For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine.

— Joseph Addison

In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

— Joseph Addison

Much may be said on both sides.

— Joseph Addison

The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And guard me with a watchful eye.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

— Joseph Addison

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

— Joseph Addison

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

— Joseph Addison

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

— Joseph Addison

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

— Joseph Addison

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

— Joseph Addison

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

— Joseph Addison

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

— Joseph Addison

Music, the greatest good that mortals know,And all of heaven we have below.

— Joseph Addison

Music religious heat inspires, And fits it to bespeak the Deity.

— Joseph Addison

When time itself shall be no more, The whole creation in a chorus join.

— Joseph Addison

Consecrate the place and day In joy, and harmony, and love.

— Joseph Addison

On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, And from your judgment must expect my fate.

— Joseph Addison

Let echo, too, perform her part, Play all the concert o'er again.

— Joseph Addison

A thousand trills and quivering sounds And at a distance die.

— Joseph Addison

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.

— Joseph Addison

When hosts of foes with foes engage, And turn the feather'd shaft aside.

— Joseph Addison

Every star, and every pow'r, Yet who would live, and live without thee!

— Joseph Addison

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

— Joseph Addison

The man resolved, and steady to his trust, And with superior greatness smiles.

— Joseph Addison

Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, And stand secure amidst a falling world.

— Joseph Addison

When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.

— Joseph Addison

Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.

— Joseph Addison

There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.

— Joseph Addison

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

— Joseph Addison

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

— Joseph Addison

See in what peace a Christian can die!

— Joseph Addison

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

— Joseph Addison

Nations with nations mix'd confus'dly die, And lost in one promiscuous carnage lie.

— Joseph Addison

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

— Joseph Addison

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, And make the hero and the man complete.

— Joseph Addison

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

— Joseph Addison

So when an angel by divine command Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

— Joseph Addison

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

— Joseph Addison

O Dormer, how can I behold thy fate, And, filled with England's glory, smiles in death.

— Joseph Addison

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

— Joseph Addison

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.

— Joseph Addison

Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast, And those who paint them truest praise them most.

— Joseph Addison

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

— Joseph Addison

Is there not some chosen curse, Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?

— Joseph Addison

Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!

— Joseph Addison

The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, Big with the fate Of Cato, and of Rome.

— Joseph Addison

Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.

— Joseph Addison

Thy steady temper, Portius, In the calm lights of mild philosophy.

— Joseph Addison

A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.

— Joseph Addison

Love is not to be reason'd down, or lostWarms every vein, and beats in every pulse.

— Joseph Addison

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

— Joseph Addison

'Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

— Joseph Addison

Thy father's merit sets thee up to view, To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.

— Joseph Addison

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

— Joseph Addison

Oh! think what anxious moments pass between Filled up with horror all, and big with death!

— Joseph Addison

One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.

— Joseph Addison

Better to die ten thousand deaths, Than wound my honour.

— Joseph Addison

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

— Joseph Addison

If the following day he chance to find Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.

— Joseph Addison

Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.

— Joseph Addison

'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul: I think the Romans call it Stoicism.

— Joseph Addison

He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.

— Joseph Addison

Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget The pale, unripened beauties of the north.

— Joseph Addison

Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.

— Joseph Addison

Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense.

— Joseph Addison

Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.

— Joseph Addison

My voice is still for war. May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage.

— Joseph Addison

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

— Joseph Addison

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

— Joseph Addison

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

— Joseph Addison

The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.

— Joseph Addison

Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!

— Joseph Addison

The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

— Joseph Addison

Young men soon give and soon forget affronts; Old age is slow in both.

— Joseph Addison

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.

— Joseph Addison

The friendships of the world are oft And such a friendship ends not but with life.

— Joseph Addison

If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.

— Joseph Addison

When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault of love; Sink in the soft captivity together.

— Joseph Addison

To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

— Joseph Addison

Loveliest of women! heaven is in thy soul, Bright'ning each other! thou art all divine!

— Joseph Addison

To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.

— Joseph Addison

Talk not of love: thou never knew'st its force.

— Joseph Addison

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt.

— Joseph Addison

To my confusion, and eternal grief, I must approve the sentence that destroys me.

— Joseph Addison

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

— Joseph Addison

See they suffer death, Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.

— Joseph Addison

The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.

— Joseph Addison

Why wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer Imaginary ills, and fancy'd tortures?

— Joseph Addison

We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us.

— Joseph Addison

When love once pleas admission to our hearts, The woman that deliberates is lost.

— Joseph Addison

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

— Joseph Addison

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way To all the pangs and fury of despair.

— Joseph Addison

Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.

— Joseph Addison

Curse on his virtues! they've undone his country.

— Joseph Addison

Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.

— Joseph Addison

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! That we can die but once to serve our country!

— Joseph Addison

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

— Joseph Addison

Content thyself to be obscurely good. The post of honor is a private station.

— Joseph Addison

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

— Joseph Addison

O ye powers that search The best may err, but you are good.

— Joseph Addison

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

— Joseph Addison

Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty.

— Joseph Addison

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

— Joseph Addison

The honors of this world, what are they But puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?

— Joseph Addison

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

— Joseph Addison

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

— Joseph Addison

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

— Joseph Addison

If there's a power above us, Through all her works) he must delight in virtue.

— Joseph Addison

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

— Joseph Addison

It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well! And intimates eternity to man.

— Joseph Addison

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

— Joseph Addison

Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought! Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!

— Joseph Addison

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

— Joseph Addison

Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.

— Joseph Addison

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

— Joseph Addison

I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: 'What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.'

— Joseph Addison

The ideal man bears the accidents of life With dignity and grace, the best of circumstances.

— Joseph Addison

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

— Joseph Addison

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.

— Joseph Addison

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

— Joseph Addison

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

— Joseph Addison

What means this heaviness that hangs upon me? Sinks down to rest.

— Joseph Addison

Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.

— Joseph Addison

Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.

— Joseph Addison

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!

— Joseph Addison

From hence, let fierce contending nations know, What dire effects from civil discord flow.

— Joseph Addison

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.

— Joseph Addison

There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.

— Joseph Addison

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

— Joseph Addison

To be perfectly just is an attribute in the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.

— Joseph Addison

Justice discards party, friendship, kindred, and is therefore always represented as blind.

— Joseph Addison

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

— Joseph Addison

Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.

— Joseph Addison

The woman that deliberates is lost.

— Joseph Addison

When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after the works of the author who has written them, and by that means discover what it is he likes in a composition.

— Joseph Addison

Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies.

— Joseph Addison

Courage that grows from constitution very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it, and when it is only a kind of instinct in the Soul breaks out on all occasions without judgment or discretion. That courage which proceeds from the sense of our duty, and from the fear of offending Him that made us, acts always in a uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.

— Joseph Addison

The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.

— Joseph Addison

Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures.

— Joseph Addison

To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.

— Joseph Addison

A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves a constant ease and serenity within us, and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can possibly befall us.

— Joseph Addison

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.

— Joseph Addison

The sense of honour is of so fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds which are naturally noble, or in such as have been cultivated by good examples, or a refined education.

— Joseph Addison

Jesters do often prove prophets.

— Joseph Addison

Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.

— Joseph Addison

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

— Joseph Addison

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this virtue.

— Joseph Addison

The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.

— Joseph Addison

If I can any way contribute to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.

— Joseph Addison

A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

— Joseph Addison

Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.

— Joseph Addison

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

— Joseph Addison

To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.

— Joseph Addison

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

— Joseph Addison

I would... earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up, and to be looked upon as a part of the tea equipage.

— Joseph Addison

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

— Joseph Addison

I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.

— Joseph Addison

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

— Joseph Addison

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.

— Joseph Addison

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

— Joseph Addison

The post of honour is a private station.

— Joseph Addison

That nothing is capable of being well set to Musick, that is not Nonsense.

— Joseph Addison

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

— Joseph Addison

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

— Joseph Addison

The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

— Joseph Addison

A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.

— Joseph Addison

It is indeed very possible, that the Persons we laugh at may in the main of their Characters be much wiser Men than our selves; but if they would have us laugh at them, they must fall short of us in those Respects which stir up this Passion.

— Joseph Addison

The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.

— Joseph Addison

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.

— Joseph Addison

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

— Joseph Addison

A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.

— Joseph Addison

Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.

— Joseph Addison

With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.

— Joseph Addison

There is not so variable a thing in Nature as a lady's head-dress.

— Joseph Addison

Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.

— Joseph Addison

"Censure," says a late ingenious author, "is the tax a man plays for being eminent." It is a folly for an eminent man to think of escaping it, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution. There is no defense against reproach but obscurity; it is a kind of comitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph.

— Joseph Addison

The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

— Joseph Addison

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

— Joseph Addison

Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.

— Joseph Addison

Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.

— Joseph Addison

Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.

— Joseph Addison

When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it.

— Joseph Addison

There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress.

— Joseph Addison

Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.

— Joseph Addison

To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.

— Joseph Addison

The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger: the first is a perpetual call upon them to propogate their kind; the latter to preserve themselves.

— Joseph Addison

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.

— Joseph Addison

Much might be said on both sides.

— Joseph Addison

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.

— Joseph Addison

Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader makes allowances for many rests and nodding places in a voluminous writer.

— Joseph Addison

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

— Joseph Addison

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most real blessings or misfortunes.

— Joseph Addison

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.

— Joseph Addison

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.

— Joseph Addison

Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.

— Joseph Addison

The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they can multiply their originals; or rather, can make copies of their works, to what number they please, which shall be as valuable as the originals themselves.

— Joseph Addison

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.

— Joseph Addison

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

— Joseph Addison

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

— Joseph Addison

Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief, and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.

— Joseph Addison

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.

— Joseph Addison

Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.

— Joseph Addison

I have somewhere met with the epitaph of a charitable man, which has very much pleased me. I cannot recollect the words, but the sense of it is to this purpose; What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.

— Joseph Addison

I would fain ask one of these bigotted Infidels, supposing all the great Points of Atheism … were laid together and formed into a kind of Creed, according to the Opinions of the most celebrated Atheists; I say, supposing such a Creed as this were formed, and imposed upon any one People in the World, whether it would not require an infinitely greater Measure of Faith, than any Set of Articles which they so violently oppose.

— Joseph Addison

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

— Joseph Addison

The man who will live above his present circumstances is in great danger of living in a little time much beneath them; or as the Italian proverb runs, "The man who lives by hope, will die by hunger."

— Joseph Addison

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

— Joseph Addison

Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the fourth for mine enemies.

— Joseph Addison

I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shews none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.

— Joseph Addison

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.

— Joseph Addison

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.

— Joseph Addison

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkward; and merit without modesty, insolent. But modest merit has a double claim to acceptance, and generally meets with as many patrons as beholders.

— Joseph Addison

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

— Joseph Addison

A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles.

— Joseph Addison

What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.

— Joseph Addison

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

— Joseph Addison

Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the danger of losing it when obtained, would be sufficient to deter a man from so vain a pursuit.

— Joseph Addison

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.

— Joseph Addison

Ambition raises a secret tumult in the soul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought.

— Joseph Addison

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.

— Joseph Addison

I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the Middle of the Winter

— Joseph Addison

A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

— Joseph Addison

These widows, sir, are the most perverse creatures in the world.

— Joseph Addison

Death only closes a Man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad.

— Joseph Addison

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

— Joseph Addison

Sir Roger made several reflections on the greatness of the British Nation; as, that one Englishman could beat three Frenchmen; that we could never be in danger of Popery so long as we took care of our fleet; that the Thames was the noblest river in Europe...with many other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the heart of a true Englishman.

— Joseph Addison

Cheerfulness is...the best promoter of health.

— Joseph Addison

Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.

— Joseph Addison

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

— Joseph Addison

Our delight in any particular study, art, or science rises and improves in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.

— Joseph Addison

When all thy mercies, O my God, In wonder, love and praise.

— Joseph Addison

The spacious firmament on high, Their great Original proclaim.

— Joseph Addison

Soon as the evening shades prevail, And spread the truth from pole to pole.

— Joseph Addison

What though no real voice nor sound "The Hand that made us divine."

— Joseph Addison

A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.

— Joseph Addison

Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make himself understood.

— Joseph Addison

Our disputants put me in mind of the skuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisible.

— Joseph Addison

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.

— Joseph Addison

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

— Joseph Addison

The fraternity of the henpecked.

— Joseph Addison

If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.

— Joseph Addison

There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.

— Joseph Addison

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.

— Joseph Addison

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

— Joseph Addison

The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

— Joseph Addison

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

— Joseph Addison

Upon the whole, a contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

— Joseph Addison

We are always doing something for Posterity, but I would fain see Posterity do something for us.

— Joseph Addison

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

— Joseph Addison

Silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them.

— Joseph Addison

A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.

— Joseph Addison

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.

— Joseph Addison

A cheerful temper joined with innocence will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful and wit good-natured.

— Joseph Addison

Advertisements are of great use to the vulgar. First of all, as they are instruments of ambition. A man that is by no means big enough for the Gazette, may easily creep into the advertisements; by which means we often see an apothecary in the same paper of news with a plenipotentiary, or a running footman with an ambassador.

— Joseph Addison

The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader's eye; without which a good thing may pass over unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupt.

— Joseph Addison

I Have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words.

— Joseph Addison

There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion; it is this, indeed, which gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work in their proper times and places, and turns them to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Without it, learning is pedantry, and wit impertinence; virtue itself looks like weakness; the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice.

— Joseph Addison

The discreet man finds out the talents of those he converses with, and knows how to apply them to proper uses. Accordingly, if we look into particular communities and divisions of men, we may observe that it is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to the society.

— Joseph Addison

Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.

— Joseph Addison

Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.

— Joseph Addison

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

— Joseph Addison

Round-heads and Wooden-shoes are standing jokes.

— Joseph Addison