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
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.
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.
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.
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.
half world next
The first of all virtues is innocence; the next is modesty. If we banish modesty out of the world, she carries away with her half the virtue that is in it.
omnipotence perfection justice
Justice is that which is practiced by God himself, and to be practiced in its perfection by none but him. Omniscience and omnipotence are requisite for the full exertion of it.
amusement innocent
Encourage innocent amusement.