English essayist, poet & playwright (1672-1719)
'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 4, 1713
There are a sort of knight-errants in the world, who, quite contrary to those in romance, are perpetually seeking adventures to bring virgins into distress, and to ruin innocence. When men of rank and figure pass away their lives in these criminal pursuits and practices, they ought to consider that they render themselves more vile and despicable than any innocent man can be, whatever low station his fortune or birth have placed him in.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Aug. 1, 1713
The spacious firmament on nigh,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Forever singing, as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Ode: The Spacious Firmament on High
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Nov. 24, 1711
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Tatler, Oct. 19, 1710
It is an unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions, at some laudable end.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator: In Eight Volumes, Volume 3
How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal of his candles on a rejoicing night, let her look to him and keep him out of harm's way; or the world will be apt to say, she has a mind to be a widow before her time. She ought, in such cases, to exert the authority of the curtain lecture; and if she finds him of a rebellious disposition, to tame him, as they do birds of prey, by dinning him in the ears all night long.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, Jan. 16, 1716
A common civility to an impertinent fellow, often draws upon one a great many unforeseen troubles; and if one doth not take particular care, will be interpreted by him as an overture of friendship and intimacy.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Tatler, Apr. 18, 1710
To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Mar. 5, 1711
Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Aug. 1, 1713
Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast
And those who paint 'em truest praise 'em most.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Campaign
Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, No. 387
Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Jul. 12, 1711
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shows thee in the fairest point of light,
To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger: the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind; the latter to preserve themselves.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Jul. 18, 1711
Take a brute out of his instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of understanding.
JOSEPH ADDISON
"Instinct in Animals"
Music, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have here below.
JOSEPH ADDISON
A Song for St. Cecilia's Day