Joseph Addison Quotes - Page 6

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• On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, and from your judgment must expect my fate.

  Joseph Addison

  Fate, Waiting, Judgment

  Joseph Addison (1854). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.4

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• The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.

  Joseph Addison

  Humble, Humility, Literature

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• E'en the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom, and trodden weeds send out a rich perfume.

  Joseph Addison

  Weed, Rocks, Myrtle

  Joseph Addison (1795). “Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments; Tending to Amuse the Fancy, and Inculcate Morality”, p.179

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• The English Writers of Tragedy are possessed with a Notion, that when they represent a virtuous or innocent Person in Distress, they ought not to leave him till they have delivered him out of his Troubles, or made him triumph over his Enemies.

  Joseph Addison

  Innocent Person, Enemy, Criticism

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1858). “The Spectator”, p.80

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• We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us.

  Joseph Addison

  Literature, Posterity

  The Spectator no. 583, 20 Aug. 1714

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• He only is a great man who can neglect the applause of the multitude and enjoy himself independent of its favor.

  Joseph Addison

  Independent, Greatness, Men

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1858). “The Spectator”, p.227

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• Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.

  Joseph Addison

  Life, Respect, Passion

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1856). “The Spectator”, p.318

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• It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

  Joseph Addison

  Inspiring, Perfect, Excellence

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• Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.

  Joseph Addison

  Attitude, Air, Giving

  Joseph Addison (1839). “Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste”, p.67

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• I am wonderfully pleased when I meet with any passage in an old Greek or Latin author, that is not blown upon, and which I have never met with in any quotation.

  Joseph Addison

  Latin, Greek, Mets

  Joseph Addison (1868). “The Works of Joseph Addison: Including the Whole Contents of Bp. Hurd's Edition, with Letters and Other Pieces Not Found in Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay on His Life and Works”, p.437

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• Women were formed to temper Mankind, and sooth them into Tenderness and Compassion; not to set an Edge upon their Minds, and blowup in them those Passions which are too apt to rise of their own Accord.

  Joseph Addison

  Women, Passion, Mind

  Joseph Addison (1721). “Remarks on several parts of Italy , &c in the years 1701, 1702, 1703. The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaffe, esq. The Spectator, no.1-89”, p.519

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• To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.

  Joseph Addison

  Happiness, Success, Men

  Joseph Addison (1794). “Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments: Tending to Amuse the Fancy, and Inculcate Morality”, p.159

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• Health and cheerfulness naturally beget each other.

  Joseph Addison

  Inspirational, Get Well, Yoga

  The Spectator Vol. V, No. 387 (1712)

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• I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

  Joseph Addison

  Song, Animal, Garden

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1810). “The Spectator”, p.20

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• I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit of mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent.

  Joseph Addison

  Optimism, Mind, Mirth

  Joseph Addison (1839). “Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste”, p.103

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• Beauty commonly produces love, but cleanliness preserves it. Age itself is not unamiable while it is preserved clean and unsullied; like a piece of metal constantly kept smooth and bright, we look on it with more pleasure than on a new vessel cankered with rust.

  Joseph Addison

  Age, Looks, Pieces

  Joseph Addison, Richard Steele (1855). “The Spectator”, p.446

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• It is the duty of all who make philosophy the entertainment of their lives, to turn their thoughts to practical schemes for the good of society, and not pass away their time in fruitless searches, which tend rather to the ostentation of knowledge than the service of life.

  Joseph Addison

  Philosophy, Passing Away, Entertainment

  Joseph Addison (1837). “The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer”, p.90

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• Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.

  Joseph Addison

  Editing, Editors, Storm

  'The Campaign' (1705) l. 291

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• Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.

  Joseph Addison

  Honesty, Pain, Integrity

  Joseph Addison (1837). “The Spectator, no. 1-314”, p.251

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• Among those evils which befall us, there are many which have been more painful to us in the prospect than by their actual pressure.

  Joseph Addison

  Evil, Anxiety, Pressure

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1822). “The Spectator: with notes and illustrations. In six volumes”, p.265

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• When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.

  Joseph Addison

  Beautiful, Kings, Tombstone

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator: With a Biographical and Critical Preface, and Explanatory Notes ...”, p.83

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• This not in mortals to command success, but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it.

  Joseph Addison

  Success, Merit, Command

  'Cato' (1713) act 1, sc. 2, l. 43

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• The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.

  Joseph Addison

  Lust, Literature, Firsts

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index”, p.156

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• When all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys, Transported with the view I'm lost, in wonder, love and praise.

  Joseph Addison

  Mercy Of God, Wonder Love, Views

  Joseph Addison (1868). “The Works of Joseph Addison: Including the Whole Contents of Bp. Hurd's Edition, with Letters and Other Pieces Not Found in Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay on His Life and Works”, p.200

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• A man who has any relish for fine writing either discovers new beauties or receives stronger impressions from the masterly strokes of a great author every time he peruses him; besides that he naturally wears himself into the same manner of speaking and thinking.

  Joseph Addison

  Reading, Writing, Men

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1832). “The British Essayists: Containing the Spectator, with Notes and General Index, and the Tatler and Guardian, with Notes and General Index”

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