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Mind Quotes by Joseph Addison

49 Mind quotes by Joseph Addison

All Mind quotes Joseph Addison’s page

Joseph Addison likens reading to exercise for the mind and says a contented mind is a great blessing. He notes that music lifts the mind and that social exchange brings fresh ideas. He also reminds us that mastering the mind is a difficult but vital task.

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

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Cleanliness may be defined to be the emblem of purity of mind.

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There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion.

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A religious hope does not only bear up the mind under her sufferings but makes her rejoice in them.

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

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

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

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There is not a more pleasante exercise of the mind than gratitude.

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One of the most important but one of the most difficult things for a powerful mind is to be its own master.

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Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him…

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Music raises in the mind of the hearer great conceptions: it strengthens and advances praise into rapture.

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Women were formed to temper Mankind, and sooth them into Tenderness and Compassion; not to set an Edge upon their Minds, and…

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Silence is sometimes more significant and sublime than the most noble and most expressive eloquence, and is on many occasions the indication…

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True religion and virtue give a cheerful and happy turn to the mind, admit of all true pleasures, and even procure for…

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A virtuous mind in a fair body is indeed a fine picture in a good light, and therefore it is no wonder…

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I have often wondered that learning is not thought a proper ingredient in the education of a woman of quality or fortune.…

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A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world; and if in the present life his happiness…

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A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the…

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Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by…

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The moral virtues, without religion are but cold, lifeless, and insipid; it is only religion which opens the mind to great conceptions,…

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If gratitude, when exerted towards another, naturally produces a very pleasing sensation in the mind of a grateful man, it exalts the…

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We find that Good and Evil happen alike to all Men on this Side of the Grave; and as the principle Design…

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Honour's a sacred tie, the law of kings, The noble mind's distinguishing perfection That aids and strengthens virtue where it meets her…

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To look upon the soul as going on from strength to strength, to consider that she is to shine forever with new…

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Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or…

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I Have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the…

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One hope no sooner dies in us but another rises up in its stead. We are apt to fancy that we shall…

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“Reading is to the mind what exerise is to the body.”

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It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them.

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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…

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The sense of honour is of so fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds…

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There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the…

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The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its…

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

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Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero…

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I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit of mind. Mirth…

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Laughter, while it lasts, slackens and unbraces the mind, weakens the faculties, and causes a kind of remissness and dissolution in all…

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Music, when thus applied, raises noble hints in the mind of the hearer, and fills it with great conceptions. It strengthens devotion,…

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It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and…

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The very first discovery of beauty strikes the mind with an inward joy, and spreads a cheerfulness and delight through all its…

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More by Joseph Addison

Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…

Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…

There is nothing touches our imagination so much as a beautiful woman in a plain dress.

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

Female Virtues are of a Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to Shine in. If they must be showing…

As addictions go, reading is among the cleanest, easiest to feed, happiest.

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…

When love once pleads admission to our hearts, In spite of all the virtue we can boast, The woman that deliberates is lost.

Many actions calculated to procure fame are not conducive to ultimate happiness.

T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.

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

The moral perfections of the Deity, the more attentively, we consider, the more perfectly still shall we know them.

The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment; if we aim at anything higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief…

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

The most skillful flattery is to let a person talk on, and be a listener.