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
nature delight cry
If there's a power above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue.
nature simple delight
Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet.
life respect passion
Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
respect men cherish
Men who cherish for women the highest respect are seldom popular with them.
nature anger evil
A misery is not to be measure from the nature of the evil but from the temper of the sufferer.
facts aversion figures
Facts are plain spoken; hopes and figures are its aversion.
eye men reputation
A man's reputation draws eyes upon him that will narrowly inspect every part of him.
honesty men giving
An honest private man often grows cruel and abandoned when converted into an absolute prince. Give a man power of doing what he pleases with impunity, you extinguish his fear, and consequently overturn in him one of the great pillars of morality.
honesty heart men
Man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, and next to escape the censures of the world. If the last interfere with the first it should be entirely neglected. But if not, there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind than to see its own approbation seconded by the applause of the public.
ignorance self prejudice
Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind.
country want decay
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
heart sunshine deceit
Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts, Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face, When discontent sits heavy at my heart.
destiny life-and-death antidote
My death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me.
philosophy circles church
Our forefathers looked upon nature with more reverence and horror, before the world was enlightened by learning and philosophy, and loved to astonish themselves with the apprehensions of witchcraft, prodigies, charms, and inchantments. There was not a village in England that had not a ghost in it, the church-yards were all haunted, every large common had a circle of fairies belonging to it, and there was scarce a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a spirit.