Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addisonwas an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend, Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth1 May 1672
Joseph Addison quotes about
conceited men talking
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
country integrity patriotic
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!
passion admiration-and-respect decay
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.
sympathy indulge-in giving
I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.
faith atheist religion
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
idols unhappy literature
There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.
break-through clouds serenity
Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
nature literature weakness
Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
witty men giving
The discreet man finds out the talents of those he converses with, and knows how to apply them to proper uses. Accordingly, if we look into particular communities and divisions of men, we may observe that it is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to the society.
passion heart pride
There is no passion that steals into the heart more imperceptibly and covers itself under more disguises than pride.
conspiracy should
Conspiracies no sooner should be formed Than executed.
modesty virtue betray
Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false. The one guards virtue, the other betrays it.
passing-away together dozen
It is wonderful to see persons of sense passing away a dozen hours together in shuffling and dividing a pack of cards.
criminals modesty false-modesty
True modesty avoids everything that is criminal; false modesty everything that is unfashionable.