Joseph Addison

“We are growing serious, and, Let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.”

“Antidotes are what you take to prevent dotes.”

“There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.”

“For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine.”

“In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, There is no living with thee, nor without thee.”

“Much may be said on both sides.”

“The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And guard me with a watchful eye.”

“There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul 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.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“Music, the greatest good that mortals know,And all of heaven we have below.”

“Music religious heat inspires, And fits it to bespeak the Deity.”

“When time itself shall be no more, The whole creation in a chorus join.”

“Consecrate the place and day In joy, and harmony, and love.”

“On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait, And from your judgment must expect my fate.”

“Let echo, too, perform her part, Play all the concert o'er again.”

“A thousand trills and quivering sounds And at a distance die.”

“For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.”

“When hosts of foes with foes engage, And turn the feather'd shaft aside.”

“Every star, and every pow'r, Yet who would live, and live without thee!”

“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.”

“The man resolved, and steady to his trust, And with superior greatness smiles.”

“Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, And stand secure amidst a falling world.”

“When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.”

“Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.”

“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.”

“When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.”

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

“See in what peace a Christian can die!”

“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.”

“Nations with nations mix'd confus'dly die, And lost in one promiscuous carnage lie.”

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

“Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, And make the hero and the man complete.”

“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.”

“So when an angel by divine command Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.”

“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”

“O Dormer, how can I behold thy fate, And, filled with England's glory, smiles in death.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Rais'd of themselves, their genuine charms they boast, And those who paint them truest praise them most.”

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

“Is there not some chosen curse, Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?”

“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!”

“The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, Big with the fate Of Cato, and of Rome.”

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

“Thy steady temper, Portius, In the calm lights of mild philosophy.”

“A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.”

“Love is not to be reason'd down, or lostWarms every vein, and beats in every pulse.”

“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.”

“'Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.”

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

“Thy father's merit sets thee up to view, To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.”

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

“Oh! think what anxious moments pass between Filled up with horror all, and big with death!”

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

“Better to die ten thousand deaths, Than wound my honour.”

“Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.”

“If the following day he chance to find Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.”

“Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.”

“'Tis pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul: I think the Romans call it Stoicism.”

“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.”

“Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget The pale, unripened beauties of the north.”

“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.”

“Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense.”

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

“My voice is still for war. May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage.”

“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.”

“A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unavenged amongst us!”

“The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.”

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

“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.”

“The friendships of the world are oft And such a friendship ends not but with life.”

“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.”

“When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault of love; Sink in the soft captivity together.”

“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.”

“Loveliest of women! heaven is in thy soul, Bright'ning each other! thou art all divine!”

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

“Talk not of love: thou never knew'st its force.”

“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.”

“To my confusion, and eternal grief, I must approve the sentence that destroys me.”

“When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.”

“See they suffer death, Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.”

“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.”

“Why wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer Imaginary ills, and fancy'd tortures?”

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

“When love once pleas admission to our hearts, The woman that deliberates is lost.”

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

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

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

“Curse on his virtues! they've undone his country.”

“Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.”

“How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! That we can die but once to serve our country!”

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

“Content thyself to be obscurely good. The post of honor is a private station.”

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”

“O ye powers that search The best may err, but you are good.”

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

“Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty.”

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

“The honors of this world, what are they But puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?”

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

“The stars shall fade away, the sun himself The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.”

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

“If there's a power above us, Through all her works) he must delight in virtue.”

“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.”

“It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well! And intimates eternity to man.”

“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.”

“Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought! Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!”

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

“Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.”

“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.”

“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.'”

“The ideal man bears the accidents of life With dignity and grace, the best of circumstances.”

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

“The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.”

“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.”

“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.”

“What means this heaviness that hangs upon me? Sinks down to rest.”

“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.”

“Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.”

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

“From hence, let fierce contending nations know, What dire effects from civil discord flow.”

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

“There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.”

“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.”

“To be perfectly just is an attribute in the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.”

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

“Justice discards party, friendship, kindred, and is therefore always represented as blind.”

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

“Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.”

“The woman that deliberates is lost.”

“When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after the works of the author who has written them, and by that means discover what it is he likes in a composition.”

“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.”

“Courage that grows from constitution very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it, and when it is only a kind of instinct in the Soul breaks out on all occasions without judgment or discretion. That courage which proceeds from the sense of our duty, and from the fear of offending Him that made us, acts always in a uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.”

“The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.”

“Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures.”

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

“A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves a constant ease and serenity within us, and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can possibly befall us.”

“There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.”

“The sense of honour is of so fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds which are naturally noble, or in such as have been cultivated by good examples, or a refined education.”

“Jesters do often prove prophets.”

“Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.”

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

“Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this virtue.”

“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.”

“If I can 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.”

“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.”

“Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.”

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”

“To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.”

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

“I would... earnestly advise them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up, and to be looked upon as a part of the tea equipage.”

“Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.”

“I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.”

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

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

“True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it 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.”

“The post of honour is a private station.”

“That nothing is capable of being well set to Musick, that is not Nonsense.”

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

“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.”

“The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.”

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

“It is indeed very possible, that the Persons we laugh at may in the main of their Characters be much wiser Men than our selves; but if they would have us laugh at them, they must fall short of us in those Respects which stir up this Passion.”

“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.”

“There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.”

“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.”

“A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts.”

“There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.”

“Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.”

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

“There is not so variable a thing in Nature as a lady's head-dress.”

“Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.”

“"Censure," says a late ingenious author, "is the tax a man plays for being eminent." It is a folly for an eminent man to think of escaping it, 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. There is no defense against reproach but obscurity; it is a kind of comitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph.”

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

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”

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

“Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.”

“Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.”

“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.”

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

“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 say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.”

“The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger: the first is a perpetual call upon them to propogate their kind; the latter to preserve themselves.”

“A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.”

“Much might be said on both sides.”

“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.”

“Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader makes allowances for many rests and nodding places in a voluminous writer.”

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

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

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

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

“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 circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they can multiply their originals; or rather, can make copies of their works, to what number they please, which shall be as valuable as the originals themselves.”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.”

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

“I would fain ask one of these bigotted Infidels, supposing all the great Points of Atheism … were laid together and formed into a kind of Creed, according to the Opinions of the most celebrated Atheists; I say, supposing such a Creed as this were formed, and imposed upon any one People in the World, whether it would not require an infinitely greater Measure of Faith, than any Set of Articles which they so violently oppose.”

“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.”

“The man who will live above his present circumstances is in great danger of living in a little time much beneath them; or as the Italian proverb runs, "The man who lives by hope, will die by hunger."”

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

“Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humor, and the fourth for mine enemies.”

“I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shews none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.”

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

“A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.”

“Mere bashfulness without merit is awkward; and merit without modesty, insolent. But modest merit has a double claim to acceptance, and generally meets with as many patrons as beholders.”

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

“A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles.”

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

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

“Were not this desire of fame very strong, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the danger of losing it when obtained, would be sufficient to deter a man from so vain a pursuit.”

“Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.”

“Ambition raises a secret tumult in the soul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought.”

“Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.”

“I have often thought, says Sir Roger, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the Middle of the Winter”

“A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.”

“These widows, sir, are the most perverse creatures in the world.”

“Death only closes a Man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad.”

“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.”

“Sir Roger made several reflections on the greatness of the British Nation; as, that one Englishman could beat three Frenchmen; that we could never be in danger of Popery so long as we took care of our fleet; that the Thames was the noblest river in Europe...with many other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the heart of a true Englishman.”

“Cheerfulness is...the best promoter of health.”

“Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.”

“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.”

“Our delight in any particular study, art, or science rises and improves in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.”

“When all thy mercies, O my God, In wonder, love and praise.”

“The spacious firmament on high, Their great Original proclaim.”

“Soon as the evening shades prevail, And spread the truth from pole to pole.”

“What though no real voice nor sound "The Hand that made us divine."”

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

“Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make himself understood.”

“Our disputants put me in mind of the skuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisible.”

“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 choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.”

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

“The fraternity of the henpecked.”

“If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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

“Upon the whole, a contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.”

“We are always doing something for Posterity, but I would fain see Posterity do something for us.”

“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.”

“Silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them.”

“A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.”

“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.”

“A cheerful temper joined with innocence will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful and wit good-natured.”

“Advertisements are of great use to the vulgar. First of all, as they are instruments of ambition. A man that is by no means big enough for the Gazette, may easily creep into the advertisements; by which means we often see an apothecary in the same paper of news with a plenipotentiary, or a running footman with an ambassador.”

“The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader's eye; without which a good thing may pass over unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupt.”

“I Have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words.”

“There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion; it is this, indeed, which gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work in their proper times and places, and turns them to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Without it, learning is pedantry, and wit impertinence; virtue itself looks like weakness; the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice.”

“The discreet man finds out the talents of those he converses with, and knows how to apply them to proper uses. Accordingly, if we look into particular communities and divisions of men, we may observe that it is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to the society.”

“Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.”

“Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.”

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

“Round-heads and Wooden-shoes are standing jokes.”