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Find important quotes and citations by the author Joseph Addison.
Quote 1817
The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their lives, which infallibly destroy themMore quotes on the topics: fear death saving destruction
Quote 1816
A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondageMore quotes on the topics: liberty worth lifetime constraint
Quote 1815
Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each otherMore quotes on the topics: health cheerfulness dependence
Quote 1814
Tradition is an important help to history, but its statements should be carefully scrutinized before we rely on themMore quotes on the topics: tradition history distrust accuracy past truth
Quote 1813
When a man becomes familiar with his goddess, she quickly sinks into a womanMore quotes on the topics: admiration habit familiarity passion indifference
Quote 1812
The friendships of the world are oft confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasuresMore quotes on the topics: friendship world pleasure
Quote 1811
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unbornMore quotes on the topics: past gift antecedents tradition history future presence
Quote 1810
All well-regulated families set apart an hour every morning for tea and bread and butterMore quotes on the topics: family eat and drink habit tradition
Quote 1809
We travel through time as through a country filled with many wild and empty wastes, which we would fain hurry over, that we may arrive at those several little settlements or imaginary points of rest which are dispersed up and down in itMore quotes on the topics: time traveling wastage imaginations rest
Quote 1808
Knowledge is that which, next to virtue, truly raises one person above anotherMore quotes on the topics: knowledge virtue people personality
Quote 1807
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songsMore quotes on the topics: garden animals preference music
Quote 1806
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 persecutionMore quotes on the topics: weakness past experience persecution people
Quote 1805
I consider time as an in immense ocean, in which many noble authors are entirely swallowed upMore quotes on the topics: time consideration art
Quote 1804
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, and his next to escape the censures of the worldMore quotes on the topics: carefulness heart world virtue responsibility
Quote 1803
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 mannerMore quotes on the topics: duty sense courage authority opportunity weakness responsibility
Quote 1802
Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humbleQuote 1801
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.Quote 1800
Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankindMore quotes on the topics: prejudices inexperience world ignorance
Quote 1799
An opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its decorations, as its only design is to gratify the senses and keep up an indolent attention in the audienceMore quotes on the topics: music performance sense attention art
Quote 1798
Learning is pedantry, wit, impertinence, virtue itself looked like weakness, and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudiceMore quotes on the topics: learning virtue weakness errors prejudices
Quote 1797
Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous manQuote 1796
The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortuneQuote 1795
Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerableMore quotes on the topics: critism opinion beauty admiration weakness discussion
Quote 1794
There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idolMore quotes on the topics: unhappiness idol age living transience
Quote 1793
Music, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have belowQuote 1792
No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authorityQuote 1791
Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenityMore quotes on the topics: humor joy moment cheerfulness serenity
Quote 1790
Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armiesMore quotes on the topics: justice violence force protection
Quote 1789
They were a people so primitive they did not know how to get money, except by working for it.More quotes on the topics: money earnings people work stupidity
Quote 1788
One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughterMore quotes on the topics: carefulness wisdom pleasure humor self-development
Quote 1787
Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, filling it with a steady and perpetual serenityMore quotes on the topics: cheerfulness mind serenity
Quote 1786
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 possessedMore quotes on the topics: pleasure imaginations soul ideas possession nosiness
Quote 1785
There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beautyMore quotes on the topics: soul force beauty admiration opportunity
Quote 1784
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this worldMore quotes on the topics: mind blessing enjoyment world satisfaction
Quote 1783
If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian geniusMore quotes on the topics: success perseverance friendship experience wisdom caution hope genius
Quote 1782
Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselvesMore quotes on the topics: speech choice force ideas knowledge
Quote 1781
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusementMore quotes on the topics: pleasure losses enjoyment wastage conversation interest boredom
Quote 1780
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its objectMore quotes on the topics: transience admiration passion familiarity habit
Quote 1779
Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honorQuote 1778
A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothesQuote 1777
It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole ageQuote 1776
Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the falseMore quotes on the topics: modesty truth falsehood contempt character
Quote 1775
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beautyMore quotes on the topics: conversation humor beauty character
Quote 1774
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 countryMore quotes on the topics: sign virtue egoism indifference
Quote 1773
The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideasQuote 1772
Our disputants put me in mind of the scuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisibleMore quotes on the topics: discussion mind weakness
Quote 1771
The disease of jealousy is so malignant that is converts all it takes into its own nourishmentMore quotes on the topics: disease jealousy opportunity
Quote 1770
The important question is not what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amountMore quotes on the topics: lifetime happiness pleasure enjoyment satisfaction
Quote 1769
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fallMore quotes on the topics: pride destruction spirit superiority crash
Quote 1768
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominionMore quotes on the topics: power mind satisfaction authority respect