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
atheism kind infinite
Supposing all the great points of atheism were formed into a kind of creed, I would fain ask whether it would not require an infinite greater measure of faith than any set of articles which they so violently oppose.
discovery talent reason
Reason shows itself in all occurrences of life; whereas the brute makes no discovery of such a talent, but in what immediately regards his own preservation or the continuance of his species.
music religious indulge-in
Music is the only sensual gratification which mankind may indulge in to excess without injury to their moral or religious feelings.
strong men sight
A man with great talents, but void of discretion, is like Polyphemus in the fable, strong and blind, endued with an irresistible force, which for want of sight is of no use to him.
time lying hands
Nothing lies on our hands with such uneasiness as time. Wretched and thoughtless creatures! In the only place where covetousness were a virtue we turn prodigals.
truth plato light
There is something very sublime, though very fanciful, in Plato's description of the Supreme Being,--that truth is His body and light His shadow. According to this definition there is nothing so contradictory to his nature as error and falsehood.
mind affection virtue
It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them.
heart voice trumpets
My heart leaps at the trumpet's voice.
wit incongruity
Wit is the fetching of congruity out of incongruity.
beautiful sex women
A virtuous mind in a fair body is indeed a fine picture in a food light, and therefore it is no wonder that it makes the beautiful sex all over charms.
sympathy brother suffering
A brother's sufferings claim a brother's pity.
music religious art
Music, among those who were styled the chosen people, was a religious art.
ill-will vanity secret
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.
imagination perfection support
Among the English authors, Shakespeare has incomparably excelled all others. That noble extravagance of fancy, which he had in so great perfection, thoroughly qualified him to touch the weak, superstitious part of his readers' imagination, and made him capable of succeeding where he had nothing to support him besides the strength of his own genius.