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
lying doe enthusiasm
Devotion, when it does not lie under the check of reason, is apt to degenerate into enthusiasm.
giving silence advantage
But silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them.
art writing eye
The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out of a proper method to catch the reader's eye; without which, a good thing may pass over unobserved, or lost among commissions of bankrupt.
art play echoes
Let echo, too, perform her part, Prolonging every note with art; And in a low expiring strain, Play all the comfort o'er again.
art government letters
But in all despotic governments, though a particular prince may favour arts and letter, there is a natural degeneracy of mankind.
eye passion men
Every passion gives a particular cast to the countenance, and is apt to discover itself in some feature or other. I have seen an eye curse for half an hour together, and an eyebrow call a man a scoundrel.
men littles spirit
Why, a spirit is such a little, little thing, that I have heard man, who was a great scholar, say that he'll dance ye a hornpipe upon the point of a needle.
giving lost epitaph
What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.
art design amity
There is a great amity between designing and art.
may dresses satire
Among the writers of antiquity there are none who instruct us more openly in the manners of their respective times in which they lived than those who have employed themselves in satire, under whatever dress it may appear.
believe opposites two
When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? My Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it.
eye passion house
That fine part of our construction, the eye, seems as much the receptacle and seat of our passions as the mind itself; and at least it is the outward portal to introduce them to the house within, or rather the common thoroughfare to let our affections pass in and out.
men criticism ridiculous
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
men honor bears
Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honoris a private station.