Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addisonwas an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend, Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth1 May 1672
beauty beautiful eye
Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense.
fall winter roger
I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the middle of Winter.
nature fall animal
There is not, in my opinion, anything more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thus rise above reason, and yet fall infinitely short of it.
jealous men envy
A jealous man is very quick in his application: he knows how to find a double edge in an invective, and to draw a satire on himself out of a panegyrick on another.
thyself
Content thyself to be obscurely good.
men evil secret
There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace. Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.
sky blue heaven
The spacious firmament on high, And all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.
pain grief and-love
In my Lucia's absence Life hangs upon me, and becomes a burden; I am ten times undone, while hope, and fear, And grief, and rage and love rise up at once, And with variety of pain distract me.
country want decay
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
nature simple delight
Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet.
nature delight cry
If there's a power above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue.
friendship league world
The friendships of the world are oft confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasures.
attitude fire frost
Whether zeal or moderation be the point we aim at, let us keep the fire out of the one, and the frost out of the other.
kindness lying men
Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion, benevolence, and humanity.