Joseph Addison Quotes
When a man is made up wholly of the dove, without the least grain of the serpent in his composition, he becomes ridiculous in many circumstances of life, and very often discredits his best actions.
Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.
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.
Every man in the time of courtship and in the first entrance of marriage, puts on a behavior like my correspondent's holiday suit.
Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind.
A thousand trills and quivering sounds In airy circles o'er us fly, Till, wafted by a gentle breeze, They faint and languish by degrees, And at a distance die.
A man who is furnished with arguments from the mint will convince his antagonist much sooner than one who draws them from reason and philosophy.
Nature is full of wonders; every atom is a standing miracle, and endowed with such qualities, as could not be impressed on it by a power and wisdom less than infinite.
In private conversation between intimate friends, the wisest men very often talk like the weakest : for indeed the talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
Even the greatest actions of a celebrated person labor under this disadvantage, that however surprising and extraordinary they may be, they are no more than what are expected from him.
It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole age.
Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!
Faith is kept alive in us, and gathers strength, more from practice than from speculations.
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.
A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.
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.
Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth.
It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions at some laudable end.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.
One of the most important but one of the most difficult things for a powerful mind is to be its own master.
Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable.
We are growing serious, and, let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.
In the common run of mankind, for one that is wise and good you find ten of a contrary character.
Novelty serves us for a kind of refreshment, and takes off from that satiety we are apt to complain of in our usual and ordinary entertainments.
Nature in her whole drama never drew such a part; she has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making.
Nothing that isn't a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency.
No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.
The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace.
Music, when thus applied, raises noble hints in the mind of the hearer, and fills it with great conceptions. It strengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture.
