Joseph Addison Quotes

We all of us complain of the shortness of time, saith Seneca, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives, says he, are spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do: we are always complaining our days are few, and acting as though there would no end of them.- On the Right Use of Time

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.

~ Joseph Addison

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

~ Joseph Addison

The ways of heaven are dark and intricate;Puzzled in mazes, and perplext with errors.

~ Joseph Addison

What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.

~ Joseph Addison

... when I see kings lying by those who deposed them,... or holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.

~ Joseph Addison

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition, but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.

~ Joseph Addison

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 proper figures.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being is powerful in his power wise by his wisdom happy by his happiness.

~ Joseph Addison

If I can in any way contribute to the Diversion or Improvement of the Country in which I live I shall leave it when I am summoned out of it with the secret Satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.

~ Joseph Addison

There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good nature or something which must bear its appearance and supply its place. For this reason mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity which is what we express by the word Good Breeding.

~ Joseph Addison

Young men soon give and soon forget affronts Old age is slow in both.

~ Joseph Addison

If you wish success in life make perseverance your bosom friend.

~ Joseph Addison

A day an hour of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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 possessed.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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.

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison

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

~ Joseph Addison