Joseph Addison Quotes
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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.
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There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.
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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.
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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.
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The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.
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One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.
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A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.
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Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.
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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.
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I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
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A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
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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.
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I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.
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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.
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There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.
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To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
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The post of honour is a private station.
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Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
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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.'
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When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.