Joseph Addison Quotes

The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship.

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition, but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.

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

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another. Thank you.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination; since inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination.

Every passion gives a particular cast to the countenance, and is apt to discover itself in some feature or other. I have seen an eye curse for half an hour together, and an eyebrow call a man a scoundrel.

Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we are wishing every period of it at an end. The minor longs to be at age, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estate, then to arrive at honors, then to retire.

I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shows none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

Jesters do often prove prophets.

In all thy humours, 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.

T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.

From social intercourse are derived some of the highest enjoyments of life; where there is a free interchange of sentiments the mind acquires new ideas, and by frequent exercise of its powers, the understanding gains fresh vigor.

The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

Love is a second life; it grows into the soul, warms every vein, and beats in every pulse.

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

The spacious firmament on high, And all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.

Cleanliness may be defined to be the emblem of purity of mind.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.

Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.

Allegories, when well chosen, are like so many tracks of light in a discourse, that make everything about them clear and beautiful.

Encourage innocent amusement.

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

Loveliest of women! heaven is in thy soul, Beauty and virtue shine forever round thee, Bright'ning each other! thou art all divine!

Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible.

All well-regulated families set apart an hour every morning for tea and bread and butter

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.

How is it possible for those who are men of honor in their persons, thus to become notorious liars in their party

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

True benevolence or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation.

If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend.

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter.

The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

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.

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.

There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance

Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.

Among the several kinds of beauty, the eye takes most delight in colors.