Top 579 Quotes & Sayings by Joseph Addison
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English writer Joseph Addison.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
The woman that deliberates is lost.
Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.
There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress.
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.
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.
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.
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.
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.
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!
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.
There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.
There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.
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.
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.
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.
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.
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.
To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.
Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
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.
Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
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.
The post of honour is a private station.
A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.
There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.
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 be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.
I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.
What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.
Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.
One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.
Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!
Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.
A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.
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.
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.
The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
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.
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.
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