Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we are wishing every period of it at an end. The… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
There is nothing that more betrays a base ungenerous spirit than the giving of secret stabs to a man's reputation. Lampoons and… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Learning, like traveling and all other methods of improvement, as it finishes good sense, so it makes a silly man ten thousand… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Government mitigates the inequality of power, and makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Content has a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect of every being to whom he stands related. It extinguishes… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions. The time… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
It is very wonderful to see persons of the best sense passing hours together in shuffling and dividing a pack of cards… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
I Have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Wine heightens indifference into love, love into jealousy, and jealousy into madness. It often turns the good-natured man into an idiot, and… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
It is a melancholy consideration that there should be several among us so hardened and deluded as to think an oath a… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
If men of eminence are exposed to censure on one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
O ye powers that search The heart of man, and weigh his inmost thoughts, If I have done amiss, impute it not!… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him; and we seldom hear of a celebrated person without… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
There is more of turn than of truth in a saying of Seneca, "That drunkenness does not produce but discover faults." Common… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Plutarch has written an essay on the benefits which a man may receive from his enemies; and among the good fruits of… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
A man whose extraordinary reputation thus lifts him up to the notice and observation of mankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Religion prescribes to every miserable man the means of bettering his condition; nay, it shows him that the bearing of his afflictions… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Vanity is the natural weakness of an ambitious man, which exposes him to the secret scorn and derision of those he converses… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Hope calculates its scenes for a long and durable life; presses forward to imaginary points of bliss; and grasps at impossibilities; and… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
I would have every zealous man examine his heart thoroughly, and I believe he will often find that what be calls a… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
A man who has any relish for fine writing either discovers new beauties or receives stronger impressions from the masterly strokes of… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
When a man is made up wholly of the dove, without the least grain of the serpent in his composition, he becomes… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
How can it enter into the thoughts of man, that the soul, which is capable of such immense perfections, and of receiving… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Complaisance, though in itself it be scarce reckoned in the number of moral virtues, is that which gives a lustre to every… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
A statue lies hid in a block of marble, and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter and… — Joseph Addison Copy Share Image
Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
There is nothing touches our imagination so much as a beautiful woman in a plain dress. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
Female Virtues are of a Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to Shine in. If they must be showing… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
As addictions go, reading is among the cleanest, easiest to feed, happiest. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
When love once pleads admission to our hearts, In spite of all the virtue we can boast, The woman that deliberates is lost. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
Many actions calculated to procure fame are not conducive to ultimate happiness. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
The moral perfections of the Deity, the more attentively, we consider, the more perfectly still shall we know them. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment; if we aim at anything higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts;… — Joseph Addison Copy Share
The most skillful flattery is to let a person talk on, and be a listener. — Joseph Addison Copy Share
