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. – Joseph Addison
Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt. – Joseph Addison
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. – Joseph Addison
A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes. – Joseph Addison
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. – Joseph Addison
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
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny. – Joseph Addison
If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius. – Joseph Addison
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul. – Joseph Addison
The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them. – Joseph Addison
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
Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense. – Joseph Addison
There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch. – Joseph Addison
Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body. – Joseph Addison
There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty. – Joseph Addison
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. – Joseph Addison
Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts old age is slow in both. – Joseph Addison
It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution. – Joseph Addison
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. – Joseph Addison
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. – Joseph Addison
