Joseph Addison Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Joseph Addison quotes, Joseph Addison sayings, and Joseph Addison proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

The most skillful flattery is to let a person talk on, and be a listener. Joseph Addison
The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment; if we aim at anything higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief and disappointment. Joseph Addison
When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations. Joseph Addison
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. Joseph Addison
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object. Joseph Addison
Prejudice and self-sufficiency naturally proceed from inexperience of the world, and ignorance of mankind. Joseph Addison
'Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts, or carry smiles and sunshine in my face, / When discontent sits heavy at my heart. 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
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison
A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side. Joseph Addison
Devotion, when it does not lie under the check of reason, is apt to degenerate into enthusiasm. Joseph Addison
Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee! Joseph Addison
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison
Modesty is not only an ornament but also a guard to virtue. Joseph Addison
Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false. The one guards virtue, the other betrays it. Joseph Addison
A perfect tragedy is the noblest production of human nature. Joseph Addison
A thousand trills and quivering sounds In airy circles o'er us fly, Till, wafted by a gentle breeze, They faint and languish by degrees, And at a distance die. Joseph Addison
Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to express. Joseph Addison
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion. Joseph Addison
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body 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
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin! Joseph Addison
Inconsistency with ourselves is the great weakness of human nature. Joseph Addison