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
avoid care escape next
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, and his next to escape the censures of the world.
gift gravity men-and-women vivacity
As vivacity is the gift of women, gravity is that of men.
blessings cloudy great influence
A cloudy day, or a little sunshine, have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most real blessings or misfortunes
age age-and-aging forget people slow soon
Young people soon give, and forget insults, but old age is slow in both.
criticize himself man ridiculous works
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize the works of another if he has not distinguished himself by his own performances
blue firmament great original shining
The spacious firmament on high, / And all the blue ethereal sky, / And spangled heavens, a shining frame, / Their great Original proclaim.
consider figure man pray republic
Pray consider what a figure a man would make in the republic of letters.
becomes extricate mind till unable water
Our disputants put me in mind of the scuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisible.
creatures perverse
These widows, sir, are the most perverse creatures in the world.
apt glory incurable men vices
No vices are so incurable as those which men are apt to glory in
air both judgement man might roger sir
Sir Roger told them, with the air of a man who would not give his judgement rashly, that much might be said on both sides.
english-writer good greatest heaven mortals
Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have here below.
good greatest heaven mortals
Music, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have below.
active best itself learning looked man parts qualify virtue
Learning is pedantry, wit, impertinence, virtue itself looked like weakness, and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice.