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
pride color doe
The peacock in all his pride does not display half the colors that appear in the garments of a British lady when she is dressed.
coats fine higher
A fine coat is but a livery when the person who wears it discovers no higher sense than that of a footman.
men shining mind
There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion.
eye may owners
The greatest parts, without discretion as observed by an elegant writer, may be fatal to their owner; as Polyphemus, deprived of his eyes, was only the more exposed on account of his enormous strength and stature.
courage justice fortitude
True fortitude is seen in great exploits That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides; And all else is tow'ring phrenzy and distraction.
alchemist contentment desire
Contentment produces, in some measure, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire for them.
men blessing mind
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world; and if in the present life his happiness arises from the subduing of his desires, it will arise in the next from the gratification of them.
book writing men
No man writes a book without meaning something, though he may not have the faculty of writing consequentially and expressing his meaning.
beauty discovery joy
The very first discovery of beauty strikes the mind with an inward joy, and spreads a cheerfulness and delight through all its faculties.
heart prejudice opinion
Most of our fellow-subjects are guided either by the prejudice of education or by a deference to the judgment of those who perhaps in their own hearts disapprove the opinions which they industriously spread among the multitude.
rely-upon expectations may
We are apt to rely upon future prospects, and become really expensive while we are only rich in possibility. We live up to our expectations, not to our possessions, and make a figure proportionable to what we may be, not what we are.
stars sight heaven
By anticipation we sugar misery and enjoy happiness before they are in being. We can set the sun and stars forward, or lose sight of them by wandering into those retired parts of eternity when the heavens and earth shall be no more.
rocks liberty mountain
T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.
party character opportunity
Persons in great stations have seldom their true character drawn till several years after their death. Their personal friendships and enmities must cease, and the parties they were engaged in be at an end, before their faults or their virtues can have justice done them. When writers have the least opportunities of knowing the truth, they are in the best disposition to tell it.