JOSEPH ADDISON QUOTES III

English essayist, poet & playwright (1672-1719)


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

JOSEPH ADDISON
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A Poem to His Majesty


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Tags: fate


Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal of his candles on a rejoicing night, let her look to him and keep him out of harm's way; or the world will be apt to say, she has a mind to be a widow before her time. She ought, in such cases, to exert the authority of the curtain lecture; and if she finds him of a rebellious disposition, to tame him, as they do birds of prey, by dinning him in the ears all night long.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Freeholder, Jan. 16, 1716

Tags: women


There is no character more frequently given to a writer than that of being a genius. I have heard many a little sonneteer called a fine genius. There is not a heroic scribbler in the nation that has not his admirers who think him a great genius; and as for your smatterers in tragedy, there is scarce a man among them who is not cried up by one or other for a prodigious genius.

JOSEPH ADDISON

"Genius", Essays and Tales

Tags: genius


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

Tags: honor


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

Tags: mercy


Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Guardian, Sep. 21, 1713

Tags: charity


Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast
And those who paint 'em truest praise 'em most.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Campaign

Tags: painting


The spacious firmament on nigh,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Forever singing, as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Ode: The Spacious Firmament on High

Tags: stars


Great souls by instinct to each other turn, demand alliance, and in friendship burn.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Campaign

Tags: friendship


Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Spectator, Jul. 12, 1711

Tags: exercise


Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Cato

Tags: nature


A common civility to an impertinent fellow, often draws upon one a great many unforeseen troubles; and if one doth not take particular care, will be interpreted by him as an overture of friendship and intimacy.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Tatler, Apr. 18, 1710


Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair.

JOSEPH ADDISON

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: poverty


Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Spectator, Sep. 10, 1711

Tags: books, genius


Young men soon give and soon forget affronts; old age is slow in both.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Cato

Tags: youth, old age


In short, if you banish modesty out of the world, she carries away with her half the virtue that is in it.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Spectator, November 24, 1711

Tags: modesty


'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Cato

Tags: pride


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

The Spectator, Sep. 13, 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

Tags: government


'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, and intimates eternity to man.

JOSEPH ADDISON

Cato

Tags: heaven, eternity