Joseph Addison Quotes

Our delight in any particular study, art, or science rises and improves in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.

Whoe’er is brave and virtuous, is a Roman.

Force us to yield. ’Twill never be too late To sue6 for chains and own7 a conqueror. Why should Rome fall a moment ere her time? No, let us draw her term of freedom out 95 In its full length, and spin it to the last, So shall we gain still one day’s liberty; And let me perish, but in Cato’s judgment, A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

Death only closes a Man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad.

Our disputants put me in mind of the skuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisible.

There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.

Tis not in mortals to command success; but we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it.

A cheerful temper joined with innocence will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful and wit good-natured.

The Female World are likewise indispensably necessary in the best Causes to manage the Controversial Part of them, in which no Man of tolerable Breeding is ever able to refute them. Arguments out of a pretty Mouth are unanswerable.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.

Fain would I Raphael's godlike art rehearse, And show th' immortal labours in my verse, Where from themingled strength of shade and light A new creation rises to my sight, Such heavenly figures from his pencil flow, So warm with life his blended colours glow. From theme to theme with secret pleasure tost, Amidst the soft variety I 'm lost: Here pleasing airs my ravish'd soul confound With circling notes and labyrinths of sound; Here domes and temples rise in distant views, And opening palaces invite my Muse.

The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.

There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.

We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us.

As to the Reasonings in these several Papers, I must leave them to the Judgment of others. I have taken particular Care that they should be conformable to our Constitution, and free from that Mixture of Violence and Passion, which so often creeps into the Works of Political Writers.