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Quote by Joseph Addison

“A money-lender--he serves you in the present tense; he lends you in the conditional mood; keeps you in the conjunctive; and ruins you in the future.”

Quote by Joseph Addison

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Joseph Addison
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

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Book:Selections from the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, and Freeholder: Selections from the Tatler. Selections from the Spectator [no.5-150
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“It is the duty of all who make philosophy the entertainment of their lives, to turn their thoughts to practical schemes for the good of society, and not pass away their time in fruitless searches, which tend rather to the ostentation of knowledge than the service of life.”

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Book:The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer
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“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.”

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Book:Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste
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“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.”

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Book:The Works of Joseph Addison
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“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.”

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

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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
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