Joseph Addison

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

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

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.

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

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

The fraternity of the henpecked.

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

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 …

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.

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

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

What though no real voice nor sound Amid their radiant orbs be found ; In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice, Forever singing as they shine, "The Hand that made us divine."

Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn,

The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.

When all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys, Transported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love and praise.

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.

The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care; His presence shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye.

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.

Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.

Cheerfulness is...the best promoter of health.

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 …

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.

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

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