Joseph Addison Quotes

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

Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.

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

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.

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.

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

A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

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

I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: ‚What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.‘

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

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

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

One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.

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

Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.

Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.

True happiness 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.

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

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.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

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.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

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.

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.

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt.

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.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.

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

Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.

Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.

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 serenity.

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

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.

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 unborn.

There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

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 armies.

The woman that deliberates is lost.

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.

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

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

Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.