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
latin greek mets
I am wonderfully pleased when I meet with any passage in an old Greek or Latin author, that is not blown upon, and which I have never met with in any quotation.
parent lasts wonderful
Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent should be so violent while it lasts and that it should last no longer than is necessary for the preservation of the young?
humanity world bears
There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or something which must bear its appearance and supply its place. For this reason mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity, which is what we express by the word Good-Breeding.
this-life ends provision
We make provisions for this life as if it were never to have an end, and for the other life as though it were never to have a beginning.
stars thinking luxury
Blesses his stars and thinks it luxury.
christian men mind
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.
writing ambitious literature
Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.
aggravation sight parent
The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
army hiking justice
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.
humble humility literature
The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.
happiness success men
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.
music nonsense wells
Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.
literature posterity
We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us.
life men literature
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.'