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
Joseph Addison quotes about
criticize himself man ridiculous works
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize the works of another if he has not distinguished himself by his own performances
cheerfulness daylight filling keeps perpetual serenity steady
Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, filling it with a steady and perpetual serenity
grave living mirth nor pleasant thee thy whether wit
In all thy humors, whether grave or mellow, Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, hast so much wit and mirth and spleen about thee, there is no living with thee, nor without thee
blessings cloudy great influence
A cloudy day, or a little sunshine, have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most real blessings or misfortunes
half
He thought he was a wit, and he was half right.
literature ornaments modesty
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.
single passion pleasing-others
To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.
strength faith practice
Faith is kept alive in us, and gathers strength, more from practice than from speculations.
4th-of-july hands happy-independence-day
Let freedom never perish in your hands.
complacency equal acceptable
Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable.
plato sacrifice men
Complaisance, though in itself it be scarce reckoned in the number of moral virtues, is that which gives a lustre to every talent a man can be possessed of. It was Plato's advice to an unpolished writer that he should sacrifice to the graces. In the same manner I would advise every man of learning, who would not appear in the world a mere scholar or philosopher, to make himself master of the social virtue which I have here mentioned.
authorship materials
Peaceable times are the best to live in, though not so proper to furnish materials for a writer.
contempt
Nothing, says Longinus, can be great, the contempt of which is great.
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.