English essayist, poet & playwright (1672-1719)
Better to die ten thousand deaths, than wound my honour.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
There is no greater sign of a bad cause, than when the patrons of it are reduced to the necessity of making use of the most wicked artifices to support it.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, Jan. 13, 1716
Among great geniuses those few draw the admiration of all the world upon them, and stand up as the prodigies of mankind, who, by the mere strength of natural parts, and without any assistance of art or learning, have produced works that were the delight of their own times and the wonder of posterity. There appears something nobly wild and extravagant in these great natural geniuses, that is infinitely more beautiful than all turn and polishing of what the French call a bel esprit, by which they would express a genius refined by conversation, reflection, and the reading of the most polite authors. The greatest genius which runs through the arts and sciences takes a kind of tincture from them and falls unavoidably into imitation.
JOSEPH ADDISON
"Genius", Essays and Tales
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. It heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades in paintings, it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colours more beautiful, though not so glaring as they would be without it.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, November 24, 1711
The sun, which is as the great soul of the universe, and produces all the necessaries of life, has a particular influence in cheering the mind of man, and making the heart glad.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, May 24, 1712
One of the best springs of generous and worthy actions, is having generous and worthy thoughts of ourselves: whoever has a mean opinion of the dignity of his nature will act in no higher a rank than he has allotted himself in his own estimation.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, October 31, 1711
Let echo, too, perform her part / Prolonging every note with art / And in a low expiring strain / Play all the concert o'er again.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Ode on St. Cecilia's Day
Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow,
And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
And even the greatest actions of a celebrated person labour under this disadvantage, that however surprising and extraordinary they may be, they are no more than what are expected from him; but on the contrary, if they fall any thing below the opinion that is conceived of him, though they might raise the reputation of another, they are a diminution to his.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, No. 256
To be perfectly just is an attribute in the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 4, 1713
When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, May 14, 1716
Those marriages generally abound most with love and constancy that are preceded by a long courtship.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Dec. 29, 1711
A money-lender--he serves you in the present tense; he lends you in the conditional mood; keeps you in the conjunctive; and ruins you in the future.
JOSEPH ADDISON
attributed, Many Thoughts of Many Minds
There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, May 24, 1711
Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 18, 1713
True modesty avoids everything that is criminal; false modesty everything that is unfashionable.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, August 15, 1712
I am very much concerned when I see young gentlemen of fortune and quality so wholly set upon pleasures and diversions, that they neglect all those improvements in wisdom and knowledge which may make them easy to themselves and useful to the world.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 18, 1713
I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Mar. 11, 1711
Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 25, 1713
See in what peace a Christian can die!
JOSEPH ADDISON
last words, Jun. 17, 1719