Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719)
English politician and writer.
There is not so variable a thing in Nature as a lady's head-dress.
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.
Music religious heat inspires,
It wakes the soul, and lifts it high,
And wings it with sublime desires,
And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life
With dignity and grace, the best of circumstances.
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.
Great souls by instinct to each other turn,
Demand alliance, and in friendship burn;
A sudden friendship, while with stretched-out rays
They meet each other, mingling blaze with blaze.
Polished in courts, and hardened in the field,
Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled,
Their courage dwells not in a troubled flood
Of mounting spirits, and fermenting blood:
Lodged in the soul, with virtue overruled,
Inflamed by reason, and by reason cooled,
In hours of peace content to be unknown.
And only in the field of battle shown:
To souls like these, in mutual friendship joined,
Heaven dares intrust the cause of humankind.
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.
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.
Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
Justice discards party, friendship, kindred, and is therefore always represented as blind.
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.
Music, the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heaven we have below.
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 country.
My voice is still for war.
Gods! Can a Roman senate long debate
Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?
No, let us rise at once,
Gird on our swords, and,
At the head of our remaining troops, attack the foe,
Break through the thick array of his throng'd legions,
And charge home upon him.
Perhaps some arm, more lucky than the rest,
May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage.
When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it.
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.
Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.
Death only closes a Man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad.
The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.