Quotes from Joseph Addison

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.

There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace. Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.

There is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty.

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

True happiness... arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self.

What pity is it that we can die but once to serve our country

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds and glitters for a moment.

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.

Senyum bagi manusia adalah ibarat cahaya matahari bagi bunga. Kelihatannya sepele, tetapi apabila disebarkan sepanjang hidup, manfaatnya tidak bisa dihitung.

When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow;

True benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathises with the distress of every creature capable of sensation

To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

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

We all of us complain of the shortness of time, saith Seneca, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives, says he, are spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do: we are always complaining our days are few, and acting as though there would no end of them."- On the Right Use of Time

The ways of heaven are dark and intricate; Puzzled in mazes, and perplext with errors.

The gods in bounty work up storms about us, that give mankind occasion to exert their hidden strength and throw out into practice virtues that shun the day, and lie concealed in the smooth seasons and the calms of life.

Rahmat sering datang kepada kita dalam bentuk kesakitan, kehilangan dan kekecewaan. Tetapi kalau kita sabar, kita segera akan melihat bentuk aslinya.

Oh! think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods.

There is no passion that steals into the heart more imperceptibly and covers itself under more disguises than pride