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
numbers clouds witness
The great number of the Jews furnishes us with a sufficient cloud of witnesses that attest the truth of the Bible.
modesty virtue
Virtue which shuns, the day.
morality observance
There is nothing which strengthens faith more than the observance of morality.
writing two giving
Hudibras has defined nonsense, as Cowley does wit, by negatives. Nonsense, he says, is that which is neither true nor false. These two great properties of nonsense, which are always essential to it, give it such a peculiar advantage over all other writings, that it is incapable of being either answered or contradicted.
hypocrisy pedants form
Pedantry in learning is like hypocrisy inn religion--a form of knowledge without the power of it.
generous-spirit despair cows
Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair.
beauty discovery joy
The very first discovery of beauty strikes the mind with an inward joy, and spreads a cheerfulness and delight through all its faculties.
god discovery perfection
A source of cheerfulness to a good mind is the consideration of that Being on whom we have our dependence, and in whom, though we behold Him as yet but in the first faint discoveries of His perfections, we see everything that we can imagine as great glorious, or amiable. We find ourselves everywhere upheld by His goodness and surrounded by an immensity of love and mercy.
god folly supreme
It is folly to seek the approbation of any being besides the Supreme.
mind action good-intentions
It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions at some laudable end.
humility exercise greatness
A contemplation of God's works, a generous concern for the good of mankind, and the unfeigned exercise of humility only, denominate men great and glorious.
kings law ties
Honour's a sacred tie, the law of kings, The noble mind's distinguishing perfection That aids and strengthens virtue where it meets her And imitates her actions where she is not: It is not to be sported with.
dust littles looks
Look what a little vain dust we are!
freedom liberty delight
Oh, Liberty! thou goddess heavenly bright! Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight! Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign, And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train.