Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we are wishing every period of it at an end. The minor longs to be at age, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estate, then to arrive at honors, then to retire. – Joseph Addison
A person terrified with the imagination of spectres, is more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. – Joseph Addison
There is nothing touches our imagination so much as a beautiful woman in a plain dress. – Joseph Addison
With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts. – Joseph Addison
Growing old is not a gradual decline, but a series of drops, full of sorrow, from one ledge to another below it. But when we pick ourselves up we find our bones are, after all, not broken; while level enough and not unpleasing is the new terrace which lies unexplored before us. – Logan Pearsall Smith, “Age and Death,” Afterthoughts, 1931