Joseph Addison was the founder of the daily magazine, The Spectator, along with Richard Steele.
Joseph Addison wrote, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." He has also produced several other pieces of writing.
Joseph Addison was born in England to Reverend Lancelot Addison. He was a politician, playwright, poet, and essayist. 'Cato, A Tragedy', 'The Campaign', and 'Dialogue On Medals' are some of his best-known works. Below is the compilation of Joseph Addison's quotes from his poems, essays, books, and letters.
Joseph Addison Quotes On Life
These Joseph Addison quotes will give you a new take on life.
"The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination; since inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination."
- 'The Spectator: With A Biographical And Critical Preface, And Explanatory Notes', Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele.
"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."
- 1883, Sunday Magazine, T. De Witt Talmage.
"Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man."
- The Spectator.
"Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week."
- The Spectator.
"Oh, think what anxious moments pass between
The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods!"
- ‘Cato: A Tragedy’, 1713.
"To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude."
- The Spectator.
"A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side."
"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."
- 'Thoughts In Westminster Abbey', 1771.
"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."
- The Spectator.
"In vain has nature form'd
mountains and oceans t'oppose his passage;
He bounds o'er them all."
- 'Cato, A Tragedy', 1713.
"A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves constant ease and serenity within us; and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can befall us from without."
- 'The Works Of... Joseph Addison, With Notes By R. Hurd'.
"Riches are apt to betray a man into arrogance."
"Death only closes a man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad."
- The Spectator.
"Cheerfulness is... the best promoter of health."
- 'The Spectator'.
"Antidotes are what you take to prevent dotes."
- 'The Drummer'.
"Facts are plain spoken; hopes and figures are its aversion."
"Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other."
- The Spectator.
"Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet."
- The Spectator.
"Life is not long enough for a coquette to play all her tricks in."
- 'The Works Of Joseph Addison: Including The Whole Contents Of Bp. Hurd's Edition, With Letters And Other Pieces Not Found In Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay On His Life And Works'.
"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."
- The Guardian, 1713.
"Virtues, which shun the day, and lie conceal'd
In the smooth seasons and calms of life."
- 'Cato, A Tragedy', 1713.
"Silence never shows itself to so great an advantage, as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation, provided that we give no just occasion for them."
- The Tatler.
"Nothing makes men sharper than want."
"When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations."
- May 16, 1716, 'The Freeholder'.
"A man should consider how much he has more than he wants."
- The Spectator.
"A man whose extraordinary reputation thus lifts him up to the notice and observation of mankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon him, that will narrowly inspect every part of him."
- The Spectator.
Joseph Addison Quotes On Education
Below is the list of Joseph Addison quotes on education.
"What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul."
- The Spectator.
"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."
"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."
- The Spectator.
"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."
- The Guardian, 1713.
"It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances."
- 'The Works Of Joseph Addison: Including The Whole Contents Of Bp. Hurd's Edition, With Letters And Other Pieces Not Found In Any Previous Collection; and Macaulay's Essay On His Life And Works'.
"I believe that everyone, some time or other, dreams that he is reading papers, books, or letters; in which case the invention prompts so readily that the mind is imposed upon, and mistakes its own suggestions for the composition of another."
- The Spectator.
“The schoolboy counts the time till the return of the holidays; the minor longs to be of age; the lover is impatient he is married.”
"A man improves more by reading the story of a person eminent for prudence and virtue, than by the finest rules and precepts of morality."
- The Spectator.
"Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another."
- The Guardian, 1713.
“A great large book is a great evil.”
"A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts."
- The Spectator.
"The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune."
"As addictions go, reading is among the cleanest, easiest to feed, happiest."
Best Joseph Addison Quotes
These are some of the best Joseph Addison quotes.
"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
"The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas."
- The Spectator.
"To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man."
- The Gaurdian.
"Much might be said on both sides."
- The Spectator.
"The ungrown glories of his beamy hair."
- 'The Works Of Joseph Addison: Including The Whole Contents Of Bp. Hurd's Edition, With Letters And Other Pieces Not Found In Any Previous Collection; And Macaulay's Essay On His Life And Works'.
"Hunting is not a proper employment for a thinking man."
"A man with great talents, but void of discretion, is like Polyphemus in the fable, strong and blind, endued with an irresistible force, which for want of sight is of no use to him."
- The Spectator.
"Admiration is very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view."
- The Spectator.
"There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice."
- The Guardian, 1713.
"There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch."
- The Drummer, 1716.
"In rising sighs and falling tears."
- The Spectator.
"My heart leaps at the trumpet's voice."
- ‘Cato, A Tragedy’, 1713.
"Our sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our senses."
- The Spectator.
"Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery."
"The moderns cannot reach their beauties, but can avoid their imperfections."
- The Spectator.
"What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me."
- The Spectator.
"Flying would give such occasions for intrigues as people cannot meet with who have nothing but legs to carry them."
- The Guardian.
"Better to die ten thousand thousand deaths,
Than wound my honor."
- 'Cato, A Tragedy'.
"A misery is not to be measure from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer."
- The Spectator.
"Books are legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind."
- The Spectator.
"Charity is the virtue of the heart, and not of the hands."
- The Guardian, 1713.
"Round-heads and Wooden-shoes are standing jokes."
- 'The Drummer'.
"Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable."
- January 6, 1716, 'The Freeholder'.
"Discretion is a perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life."
- The Spectator.
"An honest man, that is not quite sober, has nothing to fear."
- 'The Works Of The Right Honourable Joseph Addison'.
"I will indulge my sorrows, and give way
To all the pangs and fury of despair;"
- 'Cato, A Tragedy', 1713.
"There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice."
- The Spectator.
Joseph Addison Quotes On Friendship
Listed below are some of the famous Joseph Addison quotes on friendship.
"True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions."
- The Spectator.
“In private conversations between intimate friends, the wisest men very often talk like the weakest:”
- The Spectator: With Notes And A General Index', 1826.
"No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another."
"Justice discards party, friendships, kindred, and is therefore always represented as blind."
- The Guardian, 1713.
"Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud."
- The Spectator: With Notes And A General Index', 1826.
"Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved."
- 'Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, And Poetical Fragments: Tending To Amuse The Fancy, And Inculcate Morality'.
"the friendships of the world are so oft
Confed'racies in vice, or leagues of pleasure;"
- 'Cato, A Tragedy', 1713.
“The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.”
"Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty."
- The Spectator.
"A soul exasperated in ills, falls out
With everything, its friend, itself."
- 'Tragedy Of Jane Shore With A Critique By Richard Cumberland'.
"A brother's suffering claim a brother's pity."
- 'The Works Of The Right Honourable Joseph Addison'.
