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
hate men enemy
Plutarch says very finely that a man should not allow himself to hate even his enemies.
men serious mirth
Man is the merriest species of the creation; all above or below him are serious.
fear men evil
Were a man's sorrows and disquietudes summed up at the end of his life, it would generally be found that he had suffered more from the apprehension of such evils as never happened to him than from those evils which had really befallen him.
giving mind religion
True religion and virtue give a cheerful and happy turn to the mind, admit of all true pleasures, and even procure for us the highest.
may action notoriety
Even the greatest actions of a celebrated person labor under this disadvantage, that however surprising and extraordinary they may be, they are no more than what are expected from him.
men aggravation literature
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.
book evil
A great large book is a great evil.
war lying hero
A thousand glorious actions that might claim Triumphant laurels, and immortal fame, Confus'd in crowds of glorious actions lie, And troops of heroes undistinguished die.
inspirational education reading
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
children father exercise
Though there is a benevolence due to all mankind, none can question but a superior degree of it is to be paid to a father, a wife, or child. In the same manner, though our love should reach to the whole species, a greater proportion of it should exert itself towards that community in which Providence has placed us. This is our proper sphere of action, the province allotted us for the exercise of our civil virtues, and in which alone we have opportunities of expressing our goodwill to mankind.
sex slander understood
It is always to be understood that a lady takes all you detract from the rest of her sex to be a gift to her.
men enemy virtue
A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; an enemy inflames his crimes.
thinking talking intimate-friends
Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
sex light evil
I have often reflected within myself on this unaccountable humor in womankind of being smitten with everything that is showy and superficial, and on the numberless evils that befall the sex from this light fantastical disposition.