Joseph Addison (Writer)

A thousand trills and quivering sounds In airy circles o'er us fly, Till, wafted by a gentle breeze, They faint and languish by degrees, And at a distance die.

— Joseph Addison die

Where have my ravish'd senses been! What joys, what wonders, have I seen!

— Joseph Addison joy

Every star, and every pow'r, Look down on this important hour

— Joseph Addison

Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurled, He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, And stand secure amidst a falling world.

— Joseph Addison world

When I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the 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 men

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.

— Joseph Addison good

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

— Joseph Addison good

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.

— Joseph Addison soul

When time itself shall be no more, And all things in confusion hurl'd, Music shall then exert it's power, And sound survive the ruins of the world: Then saints and angels shall agree In one eternal jubilee:All Heaven shall echo with their hymns divine, And God himself with pleasure see The whole creation in a chorus join.

— Joseph Addison time

Consecrate the place and day To music and Cecilia. Let no rough winds approach, nor dare Invade the hallow'd bounds, Nor rudely shake the tuneful air, Nor spoil the fleeting sounds. Nor mournful sigh nor groan be heard, But gladness dwell on every tongue; Whilst all, with voice and strings prepar'd,Keep up the loud harmonious song, And imitate the blest above, In joy, and harmony, and love.

— Joseph Addison love

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

— Joseph Addison fear

Let echo, too, perform her part, Prolonging every note with art; And in a low expiring strain, Play all the concert o'er again.

— Joseph Addison art

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.

— Joseph Addison eyes

Fain would I Raphael's godlike art rehearse, And show th' immortal labours in my verse, Where from themingled strength of shade and lightA new creation rises to my sight, Such heavenly figures from his pencil flow, So warm with life his blended colours glow. From theme to theme with secret pleasure tost, Amidst the soft variety I 'm lost: Here pleasing airs my ravish'd soul confound With circling notes and labyrinths of sound; Here domes and temples rise in distant views, And opening palaces invite my Muse.

— Joseph Addison life

When hosts of foes with foes engage, And round th' anointed hero rage, The cleaving fauchion I misguide, And turn the feather'd shaft aside.

— Joseph Addison age

Where have my ravish'd senses been! What joys, what wonders, have I seen! The scene yet stands before my eye, A thousand glorious deeds that lie In deep futurity obscure, Fights and triumphs immature,Heroes immers'd in time's dark womb, Ripening for mighty years to come, Break forth, and, to the day display'd, My soft inglorious hours upbraid. Transported with so bright a scheme, My waking life appears a dream.

— Joseph Addison life

Every star, and every pow'r, Look down on this important hour: Lend your protection and defence Every guard of innocence! Help me my Henry to assuage, To gain his love or bear his rage.Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, Hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Chill'd with tears, Kill'd with fears, Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!

— Joseph Addison love

The man resolved, and steady to his trust, Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just, May the rude rabble's insolence despise, Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries; The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles, And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies, And with superior greatness smiles.

— Joseph Addison trust

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.

— Joseph Addison read

When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the 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 art

Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.

— Joseph Addison men

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

— Joseph Addison men

A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart; his next to escape the censures of the world: if the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses of the public: a man is more sure of his conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own behaviour is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.

— Joseph Addison war

See in what peace a Christian can die!

— Joseph Addison peace

Great souls by instinct to each other turn, Demand alliance, and in friendship burn

— Joseph Addison friendship

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

— Joseph Addison age

Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; And, pleas'd th' Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

— Joseph Addison win

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.

— Joseph Addison friendship

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.

— Joseph Addison courage

So when an angel by divine command With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o'er pale Britannia passed, Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; And, pleas'd th' Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

— Joseph Addison man

Immortal Rich! how calm he sits at ease, Midst snows of paper, and fierce hail of pease; And proud his mistress' order to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.

— Joseph Addison stress

O Dormer, how can I behold thy fate, And not the wonders of thy youth relate; How can I see the gay, the brave, the young, Fall in the cloud of war, and lie unsung! In joys of conquest he resigns his breath, And, filled with England's glory, smiles in death.

— Joseph Addison death

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

— Joseph Addison pain

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?

— Joseph Addison man

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

— Joseph Addison success

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

— Joseph Addison liberty

What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country!

— Joseph Addison die

The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, the important day, Big with the fate Of Cato, and of Rome.

— Joseph Addison fate

Thy steady temper, Portius, Can look on guilt, rebellion, fraud, and C

— Joseph Addison guilt

Thy father's merit sets thee up to view, And shows thee in the fairest point of light, To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.

— Joseph Addison light

Oh! think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods, Oh! 'tis a dreadful interval of time, Filled up with horror all, and big with death!

— Joseph Addison death

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

— Joseph Addison death

If the following day he chance to find A new repast, or an untasted spring, Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.

— Joseph Addison past

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

— Joseph Addison soul

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

— Joseph Addison you

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

— Joseph Addison love

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.

— Joseph Addison death

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

— Joseph Addison great

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

— Joseph Addison men

The friendships of the world are oft Confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasure; Ours has severest virtue for its basis, And such a friendship ends not but with life.

— Joseph Addison life

When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault of love; The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wise, Sink in the soft captivity together.

— Joseph Addison love

Loveliest of women! heaven is in thy soul, Beauty and virtue shine forever round thee, Bright'ning each other! thou art all divine!

— Joseph Addison women

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

— Joseph Addison love

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

— Joseph Addison grief

See they suffer death, But in their deaths remember they are men,Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.

— Joseph Addison death

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

— Joseph Addison grief

When love once pleas admission to our hearts, (In spite of all the virtue we can boast), The woman that deliberates is lost.

— Joseph Addison love

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

— Joseph Addison sorrow

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

— Joseph Addison virtue

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country!

— Joseph Addison death

In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, Because it is our duty.

— Joseph Addison praise

Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honor is a private station.

— Joseph Addison men

O ye powers that search The heart of man, and weigh his inmost thoughts, If I have done amiss, impute it not! The best may err, but you are good.

— Joseph Addison art

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

— Joseph Addison god

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

— Joseph Addison world

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 war

If there's a power above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud Through all her works) he must delight in virtue.

— Joseph Addison nature

It must be so — , thou reasonest well! Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, O falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man.

— Joseph Addison hope

Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.

— Joseph Addison purpose

Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!

— Joseph Addison change

I'm weary of conjectures,—this must end 'em. Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me: This in a moment brings me to an end; But this informs me I shall never die. The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. 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 war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

— Joseph Addison life

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

— Joseph Addison life

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

— Joseph Addison soul

What means this heaviness that hangs upon me? This lethargy that creeps through all my senses? Nature, oppress'd and harrass'd out with care, Sinks down to rest.

— Joseph Addison care

Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.

— Joseph Addison man

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

— Joseph Addison end

There in no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.

— Joseph Addison god

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.

— Joseph Addison nature

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

— Joseph Addison friendship

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

— Joseph Addison man

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.

— Joseph Addison work

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.

— Joseph Addison fear

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.

— Joseph Addison pain

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.

— Joseph Addison science

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.

— Joseph Addison education

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

— Joseph Addison art

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

— Joseph Addison virtue

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

— Joseph Addison world

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

— Joseph Addison fall

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.

— Joseph Addison men

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

— Joseph Addison world

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

— Joseph Addison passion

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

— Joseph Addison truth

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.

— Joseph Addison art

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

— Joseph Addison morality

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.

— Joseph Addison happiness

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.

— Joseph Addison wise

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