English essayist, poet & playwright (1672-1719)
For how few ambitious men are there, who have got as much fame as they desired, and whose thirst after it has not been as eager in the very height of their reputation, as it was before they became known and eminent among men?
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, No. 256
It is an unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions, at some laudable end.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator: In Eight Volumes, Volume 3
If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Sept. 26, 1712
Young men soon give and soon forget affronts; old age is slow in both.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 4, 1713
Nature is full of wonders; every atom is a standing miracle, and endowed with such qualities, as could not be impressed on it by a power and wisdom less than infinite.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Tatler, Aug. 26, 1710
Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair.
JOSEPH ADDISON
attributed, Day's Collacon
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
Hymn
The sense of honour is of so fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds which are naturally noble, or in such as have been cultivated by good examples, or a refined education.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, No. 161
If there's a power above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud through all her works) he must delight in virtue.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Mar. 8, 1711
Music religious heat inspires / It wakes the soul, and lifts it high / And wings it with sublime desires / And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Song for St. Cecilia's Day
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Jul. 9, 1711
But further, a man whose extraordinary reputation thus lifts him up to the notice and Observation of mankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon him that will narrowly inspect every part of him.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, No. 256
When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Thoughts in Westminster Abbey
On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, and from your judgment must expect my fate.
JOSEPH ADDISON
A Poem to His Majesty
Those marriages generally abound most with love and constancy that are preceded by a long courtship.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Dec. 29, 1711
If men, who in their hearts are friends to a government, forbear giving it their utmost assistance against its enemies, they put it in the power of a few desperate men to ruin the welfare of those who are much superior to them in strength, number, and interest.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, Feb. 3, 1716
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Dec. 15, 1711
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato