Quotes from Joseph Addison

In doing what we ought we deserve no praise.

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.

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances.

Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.

One may know a man that never conversed in the world, by his excess of good-breeding.

Riches expose a man to pride and luxury, and a foolish elation of heart.

Hunting is not a proper employment for a thinking man.

A contemplation of God's works, a generous concern for the good of mankind, and the unfeigned exercise of humility only, denominate men great and glorious.

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

It is observed by Cicero, that men of the greatest and most shining parts are most actuated by ambition.

The man who will live above his present circumstances, is in great danger of soon living beneath them; or as the Italian proverb says, "The man that lives by hope, will die by despair.

Government mitigates the inequality of power, and makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow-subjects.

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.

Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, and intimates eternity to man.

A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts

Riches are apt to betray a man into arrogance.

What can that man fear who takes care to please a Being that is able to crush all his adversaries?

A man improves more by reading the story of a person eminent for prudence and virtue, than by the finest rules and precepts of morality.

There is not a more melancholy object than a man who has his head turned with religious enthusiasm.

Men naturally warm and heady are transported with the greatest flush of good-nature.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

Vanity is the natural weakness of an ambitious man, which exposes him to the secret scorn and derision of those he converses with, and ruins the character he is so industrious to advance by it.