Quotes By Joseph Addison

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.

I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: "What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me."

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

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.

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

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.

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

The woman that deliberates is lost.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

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.

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

The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

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.

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

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.

The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.

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

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

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

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.

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

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

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