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
silly opportunity men
Learning, like traveling and all other methods of improvement, as it finishes good sense, so it makes a silly man ten thousand times more insufferable by supplying variety of matter to his impertinence, and giving him an opportunity of abounding in absurdities.
hypocrisy pedants form
Pedantry in learning is like hypocrisy inn religion--a form of knowledge without the power of it.
eye impossible rivalry
It is impossible for authors to discover beauties in one another's works; they have eyes only for spots and blemishes.
heart pride men
Riches expose a man to pride and luxury, and a foolish elation of heart.
pride men arrogance
Riches are apt to betray a man into arrogance.
giving mind religion
True religion and virtue give a cheerful and happy turn to the mind, admit of all true pleasures, and even procure for us the highest.
circles religion enough
Religion contracts the circle of our pleasures, but leaves it wide enough for her votaries to expatiate in.
reading writing men
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.
years age merit
Must one rash word, the infirmity of age, throw down the merit of my better years?
religious passion thinking
Every one knows the veneration which was paid by the Jews to a name so great, wonderful, and holy. They would not let it enter even into their religious discourses. What can we then think of those who make use of so tremendous a name, in the ordinary expression of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent passions?
sleep pride gone
The pride of woman, natural to her, never sleeps until modesty is gone.
sleep people would-be
In England we see people lulled sleep with solid and elaborate discourses of piety, who would be warmed and transported out of themselves by the bellowings and distortions of enthusiasm.
sex passion desire
The passion for praise, which is so very vehement in the fair sex, produces excellent effects in women of sense, who desire to be admired for that which only deserves admiration.
generous-spirit despair cows
Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair.