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
business requisite
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.
character men vanity
Vanity is the natural weakness of an ambitious man, which exposes him to the secret scorn and derision of those he converses with, and ruins the character he is so industrious to advance by it.
men suffering earth
There is not in earth a spectacle more worthy than a great man superior to his sufferings.
perfect tragedy human-nature
A perfect tragedy is the noblest production of human nature.
art exercise delight
Our delight in any particular study, art, or science rises and improves in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.
art men taste
A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts
love farewell half
The consciousness of being loved softens the keenest pang even at the moment of parting; yea, even the eternal farewell is robbed of half of its bitterness when uttered in accents that breathe love to the last sigh.
war two voice
My voice is still for war. Gods! can a Roman senate long debate Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?
pain real noble
There is noting truly valuable which can be purchased without pains and labor. The gods have set a price upon every real and noble pleasure.
mean men sorrow
Religion prescribes to every miserable man the means of bettering his condition; nay, it shows him that the bearing of his afflictions as he ought to do, will naturally end in the removal of them.
lying war lost
Nations with nations mix'd confus'dly die, and lost in one promiscuous carnage lie.
war flow fierce
From hence, let fierce contending nations know, what dire effects from civil discord flow.
men perfection world
Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.
inspirational funny nature
Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.