Joseph Addison Quotes - Page 23

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Oh! think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods, Oh! 'tis a dreadful interval of time, Filled up with horror all, and big with death!

Joseph Addison

Thinking, Filled Up, Plot

Joseph Addison (1854). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.179

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The schoolboy counts the time till the return of the holidays; the minor longs to be of age; the lover is impatient till he is married.

Joseph Addison

Holiday, Age, Return

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A man who is furnished with arguments from the mint, will convince his antagonist much sooner than one who draws them from reason and philosophy. - Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding; it dissipates every doubt and scruple in an instant; accommodates itself to the meanest capacities; silences the loud and clamorous, and cringes over the most obstinate and inflexible. - Philip of Macedon was a man of most invincible reason this way. He refuted by it all the wisdom of Athens; confounded their statesmen; struck their orators dumb; and at length argued them out of all their liberties.

Joseph Addison

Wisdom, Philosophy, Men

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In that disputable point of persecuting men for conscience sake, I see such dreadful consequences rising, I would be as fully convinced of the truth of it, as a mathematical demonstration, before I would venture to act upon it or make it a part of my religion.

Joseph Addison

Men, Would Be, Rising

Joseph Addison (1812). “The evidences of the Christian religion: with additional discourses on the following subjects, viz: Of God, and his attributes. The power and wisdom of God in the creation. The providence of God. The worship of God. Advantages of revelation above natural reason. Excellency of the Christian institution. Dignity of the Scripture language. Against atheism and infidelity. Against the modern free-thinkers. Immortality of the soul, and a future state. Death and judgment”, p.169

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The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.

Joseph Addison

Morning, Fate, Clouds

Joseph Addison (1825). “Cato: A Tragedy, in Five Acts”, p.1

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I think I may define taste to be that faculty of the soul which discerns the beauties of an author with pleasure, and the imperfections with dislike.

Joseph Addison

Thinking, Imperfection, Soul

Joseph Addison (1839). “Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste”, p.112

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Husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency.

Joseph Addison

Husband, Lying, Emergencies

Joseph Addison (1828). “A Selection [- Second Selection] from the Paper of Addison: In the Spectator and Guardian, for the Use of Young Persons”, p.93

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Round-heads and Wooden-shoes are standing jokes.

Joseph Addison

Shoes, Standing, Jokes

Joseph Addison (1726). “Miscellaneous works in verse and prose [ed.] with some account of the author, by mr. Tickell”, p.174

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When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after the works of the author who has written them, and by that means discover what it is he likes in a composition.

Joseph Addison

Mean, Criticism, Likes

Joseph Addison (1872). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison”, p.221

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It is indeed very possible, that the Persons we laugh at may in the main of their Characters be much wiser Men than our selves; but if they would have us laugh at them, they must fall short of us in those Respects which stir up this Passion.

Joseph Addison

Fall, Passion, Character

Joseph Addison, Thomas Tickell (1721). “Works”, p.505

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Talk not of love: thou never knew'st its force.

Joseph Addison

Force

Joseph Addison (1733). “Cato: A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's Servants”, p.57

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Upon laying a weight in one of the scales, inscribed eternity, though I threw in that of time, prosperity, affliction, wealth, and poverty, which seemed very ponderous, they were not able to stir the opposite balance.

Joseph Addison

Opposites, Balance, Weight

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There is not a more melancholy object than a man who has his head turned with religious enthusiasm.

Joseph Addison

Religious, Men, Enthusiasm

Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Francis Prévost, Francis William Blagdon (1833). “The Spectator, in Miniature: Being the Principal Religious, Moral, Humourous, Satirical and Critical Essays, in that Publication Compressed Into Two Volumes”, p.70

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Content has a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect of every being to whom he stands related. It extinguishes all murmuring, repining, and ingratitude toward that Being who has allotted us our part to act in the world. It destroys all inordinate ambition; gives sweetness to the conversation, and serenity to all the thoughts; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire of them.

Joseph Addison

Ambition, Men, Giving

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Courage that grows from constitution very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it, and when it is only a kind of instinct in the Soul breaks out on all occasions without judgment or discretion. That courage which proceeds from the sense of our duty, and from the fear of offending Him that made us, acts always in a uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.

Joseph Addison

Men, Offending, Soul

Joseph Addison (1721). “The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq”, p.193

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What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.

Joseph Addison

Country, Patriotic, Patriotism

Cato act 4, sc. 4 (1713) See Nathan Hale 1

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Conspiracies no sooner should be formed Than executed.

Joseph Addison

Conspiracy, Should

Joseph Addison (1854). “Works, Including the Whole Contents of Bp. Hurd's Edition: With Letters and Other Pieces Not Found in Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay on His Life and Works”, p.393

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An opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its decorations, as its only design is to gratify the senses and keep up an indolent attention in the audience.

Joseph Addison

Design, Attention, May

Joseph Addison, Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator”, p.16

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The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.

Joseph Addison

Lying, Mind, Culture

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1767). “The Spectator”, p.43

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It is a melancholy consideration that there should be several among us so hardened and deluded as to think an oath a proper subject for a jest; and to make this, which is one of the most solemn acts of religion, an occasion of mirth. Yet such is the depravation of our manners at present, that nothing is more frequent than to hear profligate men ridiculing, to the best of their abilities, these sacred pledges of their duty and allegiance; and endeavouring to be witty upon themselves, for daring to prevaricate with God and man.

Joseph Addison

Witty, Men, Thinking

Joseph Addison (1837). “The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer”, p.181

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How can it enter into the thoughts of man, that the soul, which is capable of such immense perfections, and of receiving new improvements to all eternity, shall fall away into nothing almost as soon as it is created?

Joseph Addison

Fall, Men, Perfection

Joseph Addison (1842). “The Works of Joseph Addison”, p.171

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The time never lies heavy upon him; it is impossible for him to be alone.

Joseph Addison

Lying, Impossible, Heavy

Joseph Addison (1721). “THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOSEPH ADDISON, Esq; In FOUR VOLUMES.: VOLUME the THIRD”, p.11

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One would wonder to hear skeptical men disputing for the reason of animals, and telling us it is only our pride and prejudices that will not allow them the use of that faculty. Reason shows itself in all occurrences of life; whereas the brute makes no discovery of such a talent, but in what immediately regards his own preservation, or the continuance of his species. Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass. Take a brute out of his instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of understanding.

Joseph Addison

Lying, Pride, Son

Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel (1858). “The Spectator”, p.169

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The Obedience of Children to their Parents is the Basis of all Government, and set forth as the measure of that Obedience which weowe to those whom Providence hath placed over us.

Joseph Addison

Children, Government, Childhood

Joseph Addison (1721). “The Spectator, no. 90-505”, p.159

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Who rant by note, and through the gamut rage; in songs and airs express their martial fire; combat in trills, and in a fugue expire.

Joseph Addison

Song, Fire, Air

Joseph Addison (1808). “The Poetical Works of Joseph Addison: Collated with the Best Editions”, p.54

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Born: May 1, 1672
Died: June 17, 1719
Occupation: Essayist
Cite this Page: Citation

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