Tis not in mortals to command success, but well do more, Sempronius, well deserve it. – Joseph Addison
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants… – Joseph Addison
The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves. – Joseph Addison
Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar 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. – Joseph Addison
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world. – Joseph Addison
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 that can possibly befall us. – Joseph Addison
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement. – Joseph Addison
The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount. – Joseph Addison
That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel? – Joseph Addison
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
Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue. – Joseph Addison
Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind. – Joseph Addison
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others. – Joseph Addison
Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them, that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselves. – Joseph Addison
It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole age. – Joseph Addison
There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch. – Joseph Addison
The disease of jealously is so malignant that is converts all it takes into its own nourishment. – Joseph Addison
We are growing serious, and let me tell you, thats the next step to being dull. – Joseph Addison
With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts. – Joseph Addison
I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me. – Joseph Addison
