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
taken eye blessing
Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to their mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the nations of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one another and be united together by their common interest.
contempt
Nothing, says Longinus, can be great, the contempt of which is great.
reading men stories
A man improves more by reading the story of a person eminent for prudence and virtue, than by the finest rules and precepts of morality.
fables instruction severity
Fables take off from the severity of instruction, and enforce it at the same time that they conceal it.
hair glory
The ungrown glories of his beamy hair.
beautiful appearance figures
The head has the most beautiful appearance, as well as the highest station, in a human figure.
eye drawing forever
It must be a prospect pleasing to God Himself to see His creation forever beautifying in His eyes, and drawing nearer Him by greater degrees of resemblance.
writing people world
The world is so full of ill-nature that I have lampoons sent me by people who cannot spell, and satires composed by those who scarce know how to write.
holiday age return
The schoolboy counts the time till the return of the holidays; the minor longs to be of age; the lover is impatient till he is married.
favors mankind ingenuity
Mankind are more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.
opposites balance weight
Upon laying a weight in one of the scales, inscribed eternity, though I threw in that of time, prosperity, affliction, wealth, and poverty, which seemed very ponderous, they were not able to stir the opposite balance.
notorious spleen converting
It is pleasant to see a notorious profligate seized with a concern for religion, and converting his spleen into zeal.
holiday men firsts
Every man in the time of courtship and in the first entrance of marriage, puts on a behavior like my correspondent's holiday suit.
party passion men
The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which passes in courtship, provided his passion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion. Love, desire, hope, all the pleasing emotions of the soul, rise in the pursuit.