Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Joseph Addison Quotes - Page 12

All Quotes Affection Age Ambition Appearance Art Atheism Beauty Bravery Character Children Community Compassion Contentment Country Courage Criticism Critics Death Design Desire Destiny Earth Education Enthusiasm Eternity Evil Exercise Fame Fate Flattery Friends Friendship Funny Genius Giving Glory God Gold Gratitude Greatness Grief Happiness Health Heart Heaven Honesty Honor Hope Human Nature Humanity Humility Husband Imagination Imperfection Innocence Inspirational Inspiring Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Laughter Liberty Life Life And Death Literature Losing Love Lying Mankind Marriage Modesty Morality Mountain Music Nature Opportunity Pain Passion Perfection Philosophy Plato Praise Prejudice Pride Prosperity Quality Reading Religion Running Safety Satire Science Serenity Silence Sorrow Soul Success Suffering Sunshine Talent Time Tragedy Understanding Violence Virtue War Weakness Wine Wisdom Wit Work Writing

The greatest parts, without discretion as observed by an elegant writer, may be fatal to their owner; as Polyphemus, deprived of his eyes, was only the more exposed on account of his enormous strength and stature.

The greatest parts, without discretion as observed by an elegant writer, may be fatal to their owner; as Polyphemus, deprived of his eyes, was only the more exposed on account of his enormous strength and stature.

Eye, May, Polyphemus

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

Life, Laughter, Humor

Troops of heroes undistinguished die.

Hero, Battle, Troops

Joseph Addison (1854). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.50

There is no passion that is not finely expressed in those parts of the inspired writings which are proper for divine songs and anthems.

Bible, Song, Passion

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index ...”, p.126

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.

Eye, Gay, Poetry

'Letter from Italy' (1704)

What can be nobler than the idea it gives us of the Supreme Being?

Bible, Ideas, Giving

Joseph Addison (1872). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.8

Should the whole frame of nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world.

Nature, Fall, Confusion

Translation of Horace Odes bk. 3, ode 3.

Government mitigates the inequality of power, and makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow-subjects.

Men, Innocent Man, Inequality

Joseph Addison (1872). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.443

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

God, Perfection, Deities

That courage which arises from the sense of our duty, and from the fear of offending Him that made us, acts always in a uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.

Offending, Bravery, Uniforms

Joseph Addison (1872). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.226

It generally takes its rise either from an ill-will to mankind, a private inclination to make ourselves esteemed, an ostentation of wit, and vanity of being thought in the secrets of the world; or from a desire of gratifying any of these dispositions of mind in those persons with whom we converse.

Vanity, Ill Will, Mind

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1852). “The Spectator”, p.675

Instability of temper ought to be checked when it disposes men to wander from one scheme to another: since such a fickleness cannot but be attended with fatal consequences.

Men, Schemes, Wander

A man governs himself by the dictates of virtue and good sense, who acts without zeal or passion in points that are of no consequence; but when the whole community is shaken, and the safety of the public endangered, the appearance of a philosophical or an affected indolence must arise either from stupidity or perfidiousness.

Philosophical, Passion, Men

Joseph Addison (1854). “The Works of [the Right Honourable] Joseph Addison: The Spectator, no. 483-600. The Guardian. The lover. The present state of the war. The late trial and cenviction of Count Tariff. The Whig-examiner. The Freeholder, no. 1-30”, p.449

Religion prescribes to every miserable man the means of bettering his condition; nay, it shows him that the bearing of his afflictions as he ought to do, will naturally end in the removal of them.

Mean, Men, Sorrow

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1852). “The Spectator”, p.656

I do not propose to our British ladies, that they should turn Amazons in the service of their sovereign, nor so much as let their nails grow for the defence of their country. The men will take the work of the field off their hands, and show the world, that English valour cannot be matched when it is animated by English beauty.

Country, Men, Hands

Joseph Addison, Thomas Tickell (1811). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison: With the Exception of His Numbers of the Spectator”, p.49

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.

Quality, Literature, Gains

For my own part, I am apt to join in the opinion with those who believe that all the regions of Nature swarm with spirits, and that we have multitudes of spectators on all our actions when we think ourselves most alone.

Believe, Thinking, Our Actions

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator: With a Biographical and Critical Preface, and Explanatory Notes ...”, p.40

It is always to be understood that a lady takes all you detract from the rest of her sex to be a gift to her.

Sex, Slander, Understood

Sir Richard Steele, Joseph Addison (1774). “The Tatler; Or, Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq”, p.78

It is a great presumption to ascribe our successes to our own management, and not to esteem ourselves upon any blessing, rather as it is the bounty of heaven, than the acquisition of our own prudence.

Success, Blessing, Heaven

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1822). “The Spectator: with notes and illustrations. In six volumes”, p.283

Hypocrisy itself does great honor, or rather justice, to religion, and tacitly acknowledges it to be an ornament to human nature. The hypocrite would not be at so much pains to put on the appearance of virtue, if he did not know it was the most proper and effectual means to gain the love and esteem of mankind.

Pain, Hypocrite, Mean

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1858). “The Spectator”, p.304

There are no more useful members in a commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together in a mutual intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of Nature, find work for the poor, and wealth to the rich, and magnificence to the great.

Office, Together, Magnificence

Joseph Addison (1868). “The Works of Joseph Addison: Including the Whole Contents of Bp. Hurd's Edition, with Letters and Other Pieces Not Found in Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay on His Life and Works”, p.202

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.

Birthday, Men, Thinking

Joseph Addison, Richard Hurd (1811). “The Spectator”, p.234

Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him; and we seldom hear of a celebrated person without a catalogue of some notorious weaknesses and infirmities.

Men, Weakness, Admiration

Joseph Addison (1839). “Essays Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste”, p.82

An idol may be undeified by many accidental causes. Marriage, in particular, is a kind of counter apotheosis, as a deification inverted. When a man becomes familiar with his goddess she quickly sinks into a woman.

Men, Idols, May

Sir Richard Steele, Alexander Chalmers, Joseph Addison (1806). “The Spectator”, p.423

Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.

Knavery, Suspicious

You May Also Like: