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
complacency equal acceptable
Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable.
contempt
Nothing, says Longinus, can be great, the contempt of which is great.
ill-will vanity secret
It generally takes its rise either from an ill-will to mankind, a private inclination to make ourselves esteemed, an ostentation of wit, and vanity of being thought in the secrets of the world; or from a desire of gratifying any of these dispositions of mind in those persons with whom we converse.
modesty virtue
Virtue which shuns, the day.
generous-spirit despair cows
Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair.
thyself
Content thyself to be obscurely good.
affliction prosperity virtue
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.
serenity soul ease
A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves constant ease and serenity within us; and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can befall us from without.
eternity scene variety
Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
conceited men talking
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
break-through clouds serenity
Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
modesty virtue betray
Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false. The one guards virtue, the other betrays it.