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
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.
work luxury want
Most of the trades, professions, and ways of living among mankind, take their original either from the love of the pleasure, or the fear of want. The former, when it becomes too violent, degenerates into luxury, and the latter into avarice.
men want
Nothing makes men sharper than want.
men want violence
The most exquisite words and finest strokes of an author are those which very often appear the most doubtful and exceptionable to a man who wants a relish for polite learning; and they are those which a sour undistinguishing critic generally attacks with the greatest violence.
inspiring perfect excellence
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
heart men care
A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.
block education english-writer human sculpture
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.
block education human sculpture
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.
admission love spite virtue woman
When love once pleads admission to our hearts, / In spite of all the virtue we can boast,/ The woman that deliberates is lost.
business requisite
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.
mankind rather species spectator
I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species
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.