Quotes by Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison

English politician, writer and poet

Lived from: 1672 - 1719

Category: Politics | Writers (Contemporary) | Poets (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 1 may 1672 Died: 17 june 1719

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

Search within the quotes from Joseph Addison for these words:

Quotes 1 till 20 of 95.

1 2 3 4 5 Next 
  • 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
    - +
    +12
  • 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
    - +
    +9
  • Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +4
  • Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +3
  • 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.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +3
  • One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +3
  • A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +2
  • Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +2
  • That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +2
  • 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
    - +
    +2
  • An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • 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
    - +
    +1
  • Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • 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.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • 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.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
  • 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.
    Joseph Addison
    - +
    +1
1 2 3 4 5 Next 
All Joseph Addison famous quotes and sayings you will always find on greatest-quotations.com

Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Joseph Addison?

The two most famous quotes from Joseph Addison are:

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

When did Joseph Addison live?

Joseph Addison was born in 1672 and died in the year 1719.