English essayist, poet & playwright (1672-1719)
To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Mar. 5, 1711
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
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
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
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, Jan. 6, 1716
Though there is a benevolence due to all mankind, none can question but a superior degree of it is to be paid to a father, a wife, or child. In the same manner, though our love should reach to the whole species, a greater proportion of it should exert itself towards that community in which Providence has placed us. This is our proper sphere of action, the province allotted us for the exercise of our civil virtues, and in which alone we have opportunities of expressing our goodwill to mankind.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Freeholder, Jan. 6, 1716
Music religious heat inspires / It wakes the soul, and lifts it high / And wings it with sublime desires / And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Song for St. Cecilia's Day
When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I'm lost,
In wonder, love and praise.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Hymn
'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul:
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, poetic fields encompass me around, and still I seem to tread on classic ground.
JOSEPH ADDISON
A Letter from Italy
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
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
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Nov. 24, 1711
Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast
And those who paint 'em truest praise 'em most.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Campaign
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
Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Cato
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
Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Aug. 1, 1713
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, Dec. 15, 1711
For how few ambitious men are there, who have got as much fame as they desired, and whose thirst after it has not been as eager in the very height of their reputation, as it was before they became known and eminent among men?
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, No. 256