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Quote by Joseph Addison

“I am very much concerned when I see young gentlemen of fortune and quality so wholly set upon pleasures and diversions, that they neglect all those improvements in wisdom and knowledge which may make them easy to themselves and useful to the world.”

Book:Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste

Work

Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste

This book is a compilation of essays that delve into various moral and humorous themes. It also includes reflections on the nature of imagination and aesthetic appreciation. more

Author

Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison, born on May 1, 1672, and died on June 17, 1719, was an influential English essayist, dramatist, and poet. He is known for his elegant prose style and his co-authorship of the magazine 'The Spectator' with Richard Steele. more

“Men who profess a state of neutrality in times of public danger, desert the common interest of their fellow subjects; and act with independence to that constitution into which they are incorporated. The safety of the whole requires our joint endeavours. When this is at stake, the indifferent are not properly a part of the community; or rather are like dead limbs, which are an encumbrance to the body, instead of being of use to it.”

Source: The Works of Joseph Addison

“Ladies are always of great use to the party they espouse, and never fail to win over numbers to it. Lovers, according to Sir William Petty's computation, make at least the third part of sensible men of the British nation; and it has been an uncontroverted maxim in all ages, that though a husband is sometimes a stubborn sort of a creature, a lover is always at the devotion of his mistress. By this means, it lies in the power of every fine woman, to secure at least half a dozen able-bodied men to his Majesty's service.”

Source: The Freeholder. Swift's notes on the Free-holder. The Plebian, by Sir Richard Steele, with The Old whig, by Mr. Addison. The Lover

“There is no greater sign of a bad cause, than when the patrons of it are reduced to the necessity of making use of the most wicked artifices to support it.”

Use Causes Support Greater Wicked Patron Artifice

Book:The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison: The Spectator. The Guardian. The Lover. The present state of the war, and the necessity of augmentation, considered. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The Whig-examiner. The Freeholder

Source: The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison: The Spectator. The Guardian. The Lover. The present state of the war, and the necessity of augmentation, considered. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The Whig-examiner. The Freeholder

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

Morality Wit Endeavor Temper

Book:The spectator

Source: The spectator

“Silence is sometimes more significant and sublime than the most noble and most expressive eloquence, and is on many occasions the indication of a great mind.”

Mind Sometimes Silence Noble Significant Occasions Sublime Silence Is Eloquence Indication Expressive Great Minds

Book:Tatler and Guardian

Source: Tatler and Guardian

“It is a great presumption to ascribe our successes to our own management, and not to esteem ourselves upon any blessing, rather as it is the bounty of heaven, than the acquisition of our own prudence.”

Success Heaven Blessing Management Esteem Prudence Acquisition Presumption Bounty

Book:The Spectator: with notes and illustrations. In six volumes

Source: The Spectator: with notes and illustrations. In six volumes