Famous Quotes by Joseph Addison

  • For wheresoe’er I turn my ravished eyes,
    Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects... More
  • I will indulge my sorrows, and give way
    To all the pangs and fury of despair. More
  • The woman that deliberates is lost. More
  • I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure, ‘till he knows whether the... More
  • Thus I live in the World, rather as a Spectator of Mankind, than as one of the Species. More
  • Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily... More
  • The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of... More
  • Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is... More
  • ‘Tis not in mortals to command success,
    But we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it. More
  • See in what peace a Christian can die. More
  • One would wonder to hear skeptical men disputing for the reason of animals, and telling us it is... More
  • Immortal glories in my mind revive,
    And in my soul a thousand passions strive,
    When... More
  • We envy not the warmer clime, that lies
    In ten degrees of more indulgent skies,
    Nor at... More
  • With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts. More
  • The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing. More
  • The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will... More
  • There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man... More
  • The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he... More
  • Our Sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our Senses. It fills the Mind with the... More
  • “We are always doing,” says he, “something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do... More
  • The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call... More
  • Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a... More
  • Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most... More
  • Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. More
  • Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading... More
  • There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress. More
  • Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense. More
  • Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a... More
  • There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol. More
  • What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to an human soul. More
  • Husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency. More
  • If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of... More
  • Our disputants put me in mind of the scuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself,... More
  • Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its... More
  • Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts;
    Old age is slow in both. More
  • Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm. More
  • No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance... More
  • That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make... More
  • To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of... More
  • In Reason’s Ear they all rejoice,
    And utter forth a glorious Voice,
    For ever singing,... More
  • The Spacious Firmament on high,
    With all the blue Ethereal Sky,
    And spangled Heav’ns, a... More
  • I shall endeavour to enliven Morality with Wit, and to temper Wit with Morality, that my Readers... More
  • When an old Woman begins to doat [sic], and grow chargeable to a Parish, she is generally turned... More
  • It is indeed very possible, that the Persons we laugh at may in the main of their Characters be... More
  • When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call... More
  • Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works... More
  • The Fashionable World is grown free and easie; our Manners sit more loose upon us: Nothing is so... More
  • Since I am upon this Subject, I must observe that our English Poets have succeeded much better in... More
  • Ordinary People ... are so used to be dazled [sic] with Riches, that they pay as much Deference... More
  • I should prefer a Woman that is agreeable in my own Eye, and not deformed in that of the World,... More
  • Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different... More
  • But there is nothing which delights and terrifies our English Theatre so much as a Ghost,... More
  • It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and... More
  • Women were formed to temper Mankind, and sooth them into Tenderness and Compassion; not to set an... More
  • As a perfect Tragedy is the noblest Production of human Nature, so it is capable of giving the... More
  • Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, but if it would take the entire Possession of... More
  • Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long... More
  • When the Wife of Hector, in Homer’s Iliads [sic], discourses with her Husband about the Battel... More
  • It is easier for an artful Man, who is not in Love, to persuade his Mistress he has a Passion for... More
  • But among all our Methods of moving Pity or Terror, there is none so absurd and barbarous, and... More
  • Those who were skillful in Anatomy among the Ancients, concluded from the outward and inward Make... More
  • [W]e are all guilty in some Measure of the same narrow way of Thinking ... when we fancy the... More
  • Female Virtues are of a Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to... More
  • The Taylor and the Painter often contribute to the Success of a Tragedy more than the Poet.... More
  • The Obedience of Children to their Parents is the Basis of all Government, and set forth as the... More
  • We find that Good and Evil happen alike to all Men on this Side of the Grave; and as the... More
  • There is no kind of false Wit which has been so recommended by the Practice of all Ages, as that... More
  • The English Writers of Tragedy are possessed with a Notion, that when they represent a virtuous... More
  • A man’s first Care should be to avoid the Reproaches of his own Heart; his next, to escape the... More
  • The Tragi-Comedy, which is the Product of the English Theatre, is one of the most monstrous... More
  • What makes this Generation of Vermin so very Prolifick, is the indefatigable Diligence with which... More
  • The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a... More
  • The only way therefore to try a Piece of Wit, is to translate it into a different Language: If it... More
  • Marriage enlarges the Scene of our Happiness and Miseries. More
  • I think a Person who is thus terrifyed [sic] with the Imagination of Ghosts and Spectres much... More
  • Good Nature, and Evenness of Temper, will give you an easie Companion for Life; Vertue and good... More
  • But to consider this Subject in its most ridiculous Lights, Advertisements are of great Use to... More

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