Joseph Addison quotes

“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

“The post of honour is a private station.”

— Joseph Addison

“The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.”

— Joseph Addison

“The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.”

— Joseph Addison

“The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.”

— Joseph Addison

“The woman that deliberates is lost.”

— Joseph Addison

“Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.”

— Joseph Addison

“There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.”

— Joseph Addison

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

— Joseph Addison

“Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.”

— Joseph Addison

“To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.”

— Joseph Addison

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

— Joseph Addison

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

— Joseph Addison

“When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.”

— Joseph Addison

“With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts. 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

“Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.”

— Joseph Addison

“The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.”

— Joseph Addison

“The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.”

— Joseph Addison

“Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.”

— Joseph Addison

“He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.”

— Joseph Addison

“If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.”

— Joseph Addison

“Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.”

— Joseph Addison

“It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.”

— Joseph Addison