Joseph Addison the Writer, biography, facts and quotes

"Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed"

"No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority"

"Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies"

"If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius"

"When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations"

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable"

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

"To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction"

"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"

"Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!"

"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"

"Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!"

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

"Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object"

"A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes"

"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"

"Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble"

"One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter"

"Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue"

"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"

"He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young"

"Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass"

"A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes"

"A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation"

"A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants"

"Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both"

"True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions"

"There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch"

"There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress"

"The woman that deliberates is lost"

"Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity"

"Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them"

"A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side"

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

"With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts"

"There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty"

"Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures"

"There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice"

"If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it"

"I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs"

"Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved"

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

"Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor"

"A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of"

"To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man"

"To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny"

"Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week"

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

"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"

"If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is"

Occup.	Writer
From	England
Born	May 1, 1672 Milstreet, Wiltshire, England
Died	June 17, 1719 Kensington, London, England
Aged	47 years

Joseph Addison Biography

66 Famous quotes by Joseph Addison