Books Quotes by Joseph Addison

A great large book is a great evil.

— Joseph Addison

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind

— Joseph Addison

No man writes a book without meaning something, though he may not have the faculty of writing consequentially and expressing his meaning.

— Joseph Addison

Who does not more admire Cicero as an author than as a consul of Rome?

— Joseph Addison

I consider time as an in immense ocean, in which many noble authors are entirely swallowed up.

— Joseph Addison

It is impossible for authors to discover beauties in one another's works; they have eyes only for spots and blemishes.

— Joseph Addison

I am wonderfully pleased when I meet with any passage in an old Greek or Latin author, that is not blown upon,…

— Joseph Addison

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be…

— Joseph Addison

I shall endeavour to enliven Morality with Wit, and to temper Wit with Morality, that my Readers may, if possible, both Ways…

— Joseph Addison

A reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure until he knows whether the writer of it be a black man or a…

— Joseph Addison

I think I may define taste to be that faculty of the soul which discerns the beauties of an author with pleasure,…

— Joseph Addison

The most exquisite words and finest strokes of an author are those which very often appear the most doubtful and exceptionable to…

— Joseph Addison

Simonides, a poet famous in his generation, is, I think, author of the oldest satire that is now extant, and, as some…

— Joseph Addison

The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out of a proper method to catch the reader's eye; without which, a…

— Joseph Addison

Among the English authors, Shakespeare has incomparably excelled all others. That noble extravagance of fancy, which he had in so great perfection,…

— Joseph Addison

I... recommend to every one of my Readers, the keeping a Journal of their Lives for one Week, and setting down punctually…

— Joseph Addison

Sir Francis Bacon observed that a well-written book, compared with its rivals and antagonists, is like Moses' serpent, that immediately swallowed up…

— Joseph Addison

A man who has any relish for fine writing either discovers new beauties or receives stronger impressions from the masterly strokes of…

— Joseph Addison

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to…

— Joseph Addison

Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as…

— Joseph Addison

The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they can multiply their originals; or rather,…

— Joseph Addison

Should a writer single out and point his raillery at particular persons, or satirize the miserable, he might be sure of pleasing…

— Joseph Addison

I believe that everyone, some time or other, dreams that he is reading papers, books, or letters; in which case the invention…

— Joseph Addison

When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after the works of the author who has written them, and by…

— Joseph Addison

The productions of a great genius, with many lapses and inadvertences, are infinitely preferable to the works of an inferior kind of…

— Joseph Addison

Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader…

— Joseph Addison