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An Honest Private Man Often Grows Cruel And Abandoned When Converted Into An Absolute Prince. Give A Man Power Of Doing What He Pleases With Impunity, You Extinguish His Fear, And Consequently Overturn In Him One Of The Great Pillars Of Morality.

-Joseph Addison

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An Honest Private Man

Joseph Addison

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An Honest Private Man Often Grows Cruel And Abandoned When Converted Into An Absolute Prince. Give A Man Power Of Doing What He Pleases With Impunity, You Extinguish His Fear, And Consequently Overturn In Him One Of The Great Pillars Of Morality.

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Every Wife Ought To Answer For Her Man. If The Husband Be Engaged In A Seditious Club, Or Drinks Mysterious Healths, Or Be Frugal Of His Candles On A Rejoicing Night, Let Her Look To Him And Keep Him Out Of Harm's Way; Or The World Will Be Apt To Say, She Has A Mind To Be A Widow Before Her Time. She Ought, In Such Cases, To Exert The Authority Of The Curtain Lecture; And If She Finds Him Of A Rebellious Disposition, To Tame Him, As They Do Birds Of Prey, By Dinning Him In The Ears All Night Long.

A Man Who Has Any Relish For Fine Writing Either Discovers New Beauties Or Receives Stronger Impressions From The Masterly Strokes Of A Great Author Every Time He Peruses Him; Besides That He Naturally Wears Himself Into The Same Manner Of Speaking And Thinking.

The Care Of Our National Commerce Redounds More To The Riches And Prosperity Of The Public Than Any Other Act Of Government.

The Pride Of Woman, Natural To Her, Never Sleeps Until Modesty Is Gone.

It Is Easier For An Artful Man, Who Is Not In Love, To Persuade His Mistress He Has A Passion For Her, And To Succeed In His Pursuits, Than For One Who Loves With The Greatest Violence. True Love Hath Ten Thousand Griefs, Impatiencies And Resentments, That Render A Man Unamiable In The Eyes Of The Person Whose Affection He Sollicits.

A Man Who Is Furnished With Arguments From The Mint Will Convince His Antagonist Much Sooner Than One Who Draws Them From Reason And Philosophy.

The Hours Of A Wise Man Are Lengthened By His Ideas.

Health And Happiness Give Rise To Each Other.

But 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.

It Is Usual For A Man Who Loves Country Sports To Preserve The Game In His Own Grounds, And Divert Himself Upon Those That Belongto His Neighbour.

If Gratitude, When Exerted Towards Another, Naturally Produces A Very Pleasing Sensation In The Mind Of A Grateful Man, It Exalts The Soul Into Rapture When It Is Employed On This Great Object Of Gratitude To The Beneficent Being Who Has Given Us Everything We Already Possess, And From Whom We Expect Everything We Yet Hope For.

The Great Art In Writing Advertisements Is The Finding Out Of A Proper Method To Catch The Reader's Eye; Without Which, A Good Thing May Pass Over Unobserved, Or Lost Among Commissions Of Bankrupt.

Heaven Is Not To Be Looked Upon Only As The Reward, But The Natural Effect, Of A Religious Life.

Nothing That Isn't A Real Crime Makes A Man Appear So Contemptible And Little In The Eyes Of The World As Inconsistency.

If Men Would Consider Not So Much Wherein They Differ, As Wherein They Agree, There Would Be Far Less Of Uncharitableness And Angry Feeling In The World.

You Make Me Happy

There Is Not On Earth A Spectacle More Worthy The Regard Of A Creator Intent On His Works, Than A Brave Man Superior To His Sufferings.

The Most Exquisite Words And Finest Strokes Of An Author Are Those Which Very Often Appear The Most Doubtful And Exceptionable To A Man Who Wants A Relish For Polite Learning; And They Are Those Which A Sour Undistinguishing Critic Generally Attacks With The Greatest Violence.

Facts Are Plain Spoken; Hopes And Figures Are Its Aversion.

It Is Of Unspeakable Advantage To Possess Our Minds With An Habitual Good Intention, And To Aim All Our Thoughts, Words, And Actions At Some Laudable End.

Good Intentions

The Very First Discovery Of Beauty Strikes The Mind With An Inward Joy, And Spreads A Cheerfulness And Delight Through All Its Faculties.

Rides In The Whirlwind And Directs The Storm.

There Are Greater Depths And Obscurities, Greater Intricacies And Perplexities, In An Elaborate And Well-written Piece Of Nonsense, Than In The Most Abstruse And Profound Tract Of School Divinity.

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.

Hope Calculates Its Scenes For A Long And Durable Life; Presses Forward To Imaginary Points Of Bliss; And Grasps At Impossibilities; And Consequently Very Often Ensnares Men Into Beggary, Ruin And Dishonor.

Certain Is It That There Is No Kind Of Affection So Purely Angelic As Of A Father To A Daughter.

There Is Something Very Sublime, Though Very Fanciful, In Plato's Description Of The Supreme Being,--that Truth Is His Body And Light His Shadow. According To This Definition There Is Nothing So Contradictory To His Nature As Error And Falsehood.

Content Thyself To Be Obscurely Good. When Vice Prevails, And Impious Men Bear Sway, The Post Of Honoris A Private Station.

Nature Has Laid Out All Her Art In Beautifying The Face; She Has Touched It With Vermilion, Planted In It A Double Row Of Ivory, Made It The Seat Of Smiles And Blushes, Lighted It Up And Enlivened It With The Brightness Of The Eyes, Hung It On Each Side With Curious Organs Of Sense, Given It Airs And Graces That Cannot Be Described, And Surrounded It With Such A Flowing Shade Of Hair As Sets All Its Beauties In The Most Agreeable Light.

Is It Not Wonderful, That The Love Of The Parent Should Be So Violent While It Lasts And That It Should Last No Longer Than Is Necessary For The Preservation Of The Young?

Antidotes Are What You Take To Prevent Dotes.

Charity Is A Virtue Of The Heart, And Not Of The Hands.

Men Who Profess A State Of Neutrality In Times Of Public Danger, Desert The Common Interest Of Their Fellow Subjects; And Act With Independence To That Constitution Into Which They Are Incorporated. The Safety Of The Whole Requires Our Joint Endeavours. When This Is At Stake, The Indifferent Are Not Properly A Part Of The Community; Or Rather Are Like Dead Limbs, Which Are An Encumbrance To The Body, Instead Of Being Of Use To It.

The Peacock In All His Pride Does Not Display Half The Colors That Appear In The Garments Of A British Lady When She Is Dressed.

Every One Knows The Veneration Which Was Paid By The Jews To A Name So Great, Wonderful, And Holy. They Would Not Let It Enter Even Into Their Religious Discourses. What Can We Then Think Of Those Who Make Use Of So Tremendous A Name, In The Ordinary Expression Of Their Anger, Mirth, And Most Impertinent Passions?

There Is More Of Turn Than Of Truth In A Saying Of Seneca, "that Drunkenness Does Not Produce But Discover Faults." Common Experience Teaches The Contrary. Wine Throws A Man Out Of Himself, And Infuses Dualities Into The Mind Which She Is A Stranger To In Her Sober Moments.

A Friend Exaggerates A Man's Virtues; An Enemy Inflames His Crimes.

The Great Number Of The Jews Furnishes Us With A Sufficient Cloud Of Witnesses That Attest The Truth Of The Bible.

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. A Man Should Direct All His Studies And Endeavors At Making Himself Easy Now And Happy Hereafter.

I'm Weary Of Conjectures, - This Must End 'em. Thus Am I Doubly Armed: My Death And Life, My Bane And Antidote, Are Both Before Me: This In A Moment Brings Me To An End; But This Informs Me I Shall Never Die. The Soul, Secured In Her Existence, Smiles At The Drawn Dagger, And Defies Its Point. 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 War Of Elements, The Wrecks Of Matter, And The Crush Of Worlds.

Love, Anger, Pride And Avarice All Visibly Move In Those Little Orbs.

The Passion For Praise, Which Is So Very Vehement In The Fair Sex, Produces Excellent Effects In Women Of Sense, Who Desire To Be Admired For That Which Only Deserves Admiration.

Nothing Is More Amiable Than True Modesty, And Nothing More Contemptible Than The False. The One Guards Virtue, The Other Betrays It.

There Is Nothing Which One Regards So Much With An Eye Of Mirth And Pity As Innocence When It Has In It A Dash Of Folly.

Many Actions Calculated To Procure Fame Are Not Conducive To Ultimate Happiness.

Ultimate Happiness

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Hunting Is Not A Proper Employment For A Thinking Man.

Cunning Has Only Private Selfish Aims, And Sticks At Nothing Which May Make Them Succeed. Discretion Has Large And Extended Views, And, Like A Well-formed Eye, Commands A Whole Horizon; Cunning Is A Kind Of Shortsightedness, That Discovers The Minutest Objects Which Are Near At Hand, But Is Not Able To Discern Things At A Distance.

Plenty Of People Wish To Become Devout, But No One Wishes To Be Humble.

Virgil Has Very Finely Touched Upon The Female Passion For Dress And Shows, In The Character Of Camilla; Who Though She Seems To Have Shaken Off All The Other Weaknesses Of Her Sex, Is Still Described As A Woman In This Particular.

Tis Not My Talent To Conceal My Thoughts, Or Carry Smiles And Sunshine In My Face, When Discontent Sits Heavy At My Heart.

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A Man Must Be Excessively Stupid, As Well As Uncharitable, Who Believes That There Is No Virtue But On His Own Side, And That There Are Not Men As Honest As Himself Who May Differ From Him In Political Principles.

Honor's A Fine Imaginary Notion, That Draws In Raw And Unexperienced Men To Real Mischiefs.

The Chief Ingredients In The Composition Of Those Qualities That Gain Esteem And Praise, Are Good Nature, Truth, Good Sense, And Good Breeding.

In That Disputable Point Of Persecuting Men For Conscience Sake, I See Such Dreadful Consequences Rising, I Would Be As Fully Convinced Of The Truth Of It, As A Mathematical Demonstration, Before I Would Venture To Act Upon It Or Make It A Part Of My Religion.

It Must Be So,-plato, Thou Reasonest Well! Else Whence This Pleasing Hope, This Fond Desire, This Longing After Immortality? Or Whence This Secret Dread And Inward Horror Of Falling Into Naught? Why Shrinks The Soul Back On Herself, And Startles At Destruction? 't Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us; 't Is Heaven Itself That Points Out An Hereafter, And Intimates Eternity To Man. Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought!

One Should Take Good Care Not To Grow Too Wise For So Great A Pleasure Of Life As Laughter.

Hudibras Has Defined Nonsense, As Cowley Does Wit, By Negatives. Nonsense, He Says, Is That Which Is Neither True Nor False. These Two Great Properties Of Nonsense, Which Are Always Essential To It, Give It Such A Peculiar Advantage Over All Other Writings, That It Is Incapable Of Being Either Answered Or Contradicted.

In Private Conversation Between Intimate Friends, The Wisest Men Very Often Talk Like The Weakest : For Indeed The Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

There Is No Greater Sign Of A General Decay Of Virtue In A Nation, Than A Want Of Zeal In Its Inhabitants For The Good Of Their Country.

I Always Rejoice When I See A Tribunal Filled With A Man Of An Upright And Inflexible Temper, Who In The Execution Of His Country's Laws Can Overcome All Private Fear, Resentment, Solicitation, And Even Pity Itself.

A Man Must Be Both Stupid And Uncharitable Who Believes There Is No Virtue Or Truth But On His Own Side.

A Man Governs Himself By The Dictates Of Virtue And Good Sense, Who Acts Without Zeal Or Passion In Points That Are Of No Consequence; But When The Whole Community Is Shaken, And The Safety Of The Public Endangered, The Appearance Of A Philosophical Or An Affected Indolence Must Arise Either From Stupidity Or Perfidiousness.

A Jealous Man Is Very Quick In His Application: He Knows How To Find A Double Edge In An Invective, And To Draw A Satire On Himself Out Of A Panegyrick On Another.

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There Is No Passion That Is Not Finely Expressed In Those Parts Of The Inspired Writings Which Are Proper For Divine Songs And Anthems.

The Person Who Has A Firm Trust In The Supreme Being Is Powerful In His Power, Wise By His Wisdom, Happy By His Happiness.

Unbounded Courage And Compassion Join'd, Tempering Each Other In The Victor's Mind, Alternately Proclaim Him Good And Great, And Make The Hero And The Man Complete.

Virtue Which Shuns, The Day.

Guard Thy Heart On This Weak Side, Where Most Our Nature Fails.

Sunday Clears Away The Rust Of The Whole Week.

A Money-lender--he Serves You In The Present Tense; He Lends You In The Conditional Mood; Keeps You In The Conjunctive; And Ruins You In The Future.

Arguments Out Of A Pretty Mouth Are Unanswerable.

Some Virtues Are Only Seen In Affliction And Others Only In Prosperity.

Must One Rash Word, The Infirmity Of Age, Throw Down The Merit Of My Better Years?

It Is Impossible For Authors To Discover Beauties In One Another's Works; They Have Eyes Only For Spots And Blemishes.

Their Is No Defense Against Criticism Except Obscurity.

Without Constancy There Is Neither Love, Friendship, Nor Virtue In The World.

Friendship Love

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.

The Moderns Cannot Reach Their Beauties, But Can Avoid Their Imperfections.

Among The Several Kinds Of Beauty, The Eye Takes Most Delight In Colors.

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries. A Marriage Of Love Is Pleasant; A Marriage Of Interest, Easy; And A Marriage Where Both Meet, Happy. A Happy Marriage Has In It All The Pleasures Of Friendship, All The Enjoyments Of Sense And Reason, And, Indeed, All The Sweets Of Life.

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

There Is Nothing Which Strengthens Faith More Than The Observance Of Morality.

The Soul, Secured In Her Existence, Smiles At The Drawn Dagger, And Defies Its Point.

Eternity! Thou Pleasing Dreadful Thought! Through What Variety Of Untried Being, Through What New Scenes And Changes Must We Pass!

Yet Then From All My Grief, O Lord, Thy Mercy Set Me Free, Whilst In The Confidence Of Pray'r My Soul Took Hold On Thee.

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.

Pedantry In Learning Is Like Hypocrisy Inn Religion--a Form Of Knowledge Without The Power Of It.

Religion Contracts The Circle Of Our Pleasures, But Leaves It Wide Enough For Her Votaries To Expatiate In.

Oh! Think What Anxious Moments Pass Between The Birth Of Plots, And Their Last Fatal Periods, Oh! 'tis A Dreadful Interval Of Time, Filled Up With Horror All, And Big With Death!

Were Not This Desire Of Fame Very Strong, The Difficulty Of Obtaining It, And The Danger Of Losing It When Obtained, Would Be Sufficient To Deter A Man From So Vain A Pursuit.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

The Productions Of A Great Genius, With Many Lapses And Inadvertences, Are Infinitely Preferable To The Works Of An Inferior Kind Of Author Which Are Scrupulously Exact, And Conformable To All The Rules Of Correct Writing.

With What Astonishment And Veneration May We Look Into Our Own Souls, Where There Are Such Hidden Stores Of Virtue And Knowledge, Such Inexhaustible Sources Of Perfection. We Know Not Yet What We Shall Be, Nor Will It Ever Enter Into The Heart To Conceive The Glory That Will Be Always In Reserve For It.

The Obedience Of Children To Their Parents Is The Basis Of All Government, And Set Forth As The Measure Of That Obedience Which Weowe To Those Whom Providence Hath Placed Over Us.

I Have Often Wondered That Learning Is Not Thought A Proper Ingredient In The Education Of A Woman Of Quality Or Fortune. Since They Have The Same Improvable Minds As The Male Part Of Their Species.

Among Those Evils Which Befall Us, There Are Many Which Have Been More Painful To Us In The Prospect Than By Their Actual Pressure.

What Can That Man Fear Who Takes Care To Please A Being That Is Able To Crush All His Adversaries?

A Well Regulated Commerce Is Not, Like Law, Physic, Or Divinity, To Be Overstocked With Hands; But, On The Contrary, Flourishes By Multitudes, And Gives Employment To All Its Professors.

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.

Men Naturally Warm And Heady Are Transported With The Greatest Flush Of Good-nature.

Music Can Noble Hints Impart, Engender Fury, Kindle Love, With Unsuspected Eloquence Can Move, And Manage All The Man With Secret Art.

There Is A Great Amity Between Designing And Art.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

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.

A Solid And Substantial Greatness Of Soul Looks Down With Neglect On The Censures And Applauses Of The Multitude.

Justice Is That Which Is Practiced By God Himself, And To Be Practiced In Its Perfection By None But Him. Omniscience And Omnipotence Are Requisite For The Full Exertion Of It.

With Regard To Donations Always Expect The Most From Prudent People, Who Keep Their Own Accounts.

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.

Fame Is A Good So Wholly Foreign To Our Natures That We Have No Faculty In The Soul Adapted To It, Nor Any Organ In The Body To Relish It; An Object Of Desire Placed Out Of The Possibility Of Fruition.

In The Common Run Of Mankind, For One That Is Wise And Good You Find Ten Of A Contrary Character.

The First Of All Virtues Is Innocence; The Next Is Modesty. If We Banish Modesty Out Of The World, She Carries Away With Her Half The Virtue That Is In It.

There Are Many More Shining Qualities In The Mind Of Man, But There Is None So Useful As Discretion.

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.

A State Of Temperance, Sobriety And Justice Without Devotion Is A Cold, Lifeless, Insipid Condition Of Virtue, And Is Rather To Be Styled Philosophy Than Religion.

In My Lucia's Absence Life Hangs Upon Me, And Becomes A Burden; I Am Ten Times Undone, While Hope, And Fear, And Grief, And Rage And Love Rise Up At Once, And With Variety Of Pain Distract Me.

When A Man Has Been Guilty Of Any Vice Or Folly, The Best Atonement He Can Make For It Is To Warn Others Not To Fall Into The Like.

I Will Indulge My Sorrows, And Give Way To All The Pangs And Fury Of Despair.

Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

Thus I Live In The World Rather As A Spectator Of Mankind Than As One Of The Species.

One Of The Most Important But One Of The Most Difficult Things For A Powerful Mind Is To Be Its Own Master.

There Is No Kind Of False Wit Which Has Been So Recommended By The Practice Of All Ages, As That Which Consists In A Jingle Of Words, And Is Comprehended Under The General Name Of Punning.

Nothing Makes Men Sharper Than Want.

There Is No Virtue So Truly Great And Godlike As Justice.

Simonides, A Poet Famous In His Generation, Is, I Think, Author Of The Oldest Satire That Is Now Extant, And, As Some Say, Of The First That Was Ever Written.

The English Writers Of Tragedy Are Possessed With A Notion, That When They Represent A Virtuous Or Innocent Person In Distress, They Ought Not To Leave Him Till They Have Delivered Him Out Of His Troubles, Or Made Him Triumph Over His Enemies.

Innocent Person

Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

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.

Dependence Is A Perpetual Call Upon Humanity, And A Greater Incitement To Tenderness And Pity Than Any Other Motive Whatever.

The Fear Of Death Often Proves Mortal.

One Hope No Sooner Dies In Us But Another Rises Up In Its Stead. We Are Apt To Fancy That We Shall Be Happy And Satisfied If We Possess Ourselves Of Such And Such Particular Enjoyments; But Either By Reason Of Their Emptiness, Or The Natural Inquietude Of The Mind, We Have No Sooner Gained One Point, But We Extend Our Hopes To Another. We Still Find New Inviting Scenes And Landscapes Lying Behind Those Which At A Distance Terminated Our View.

I Always Rejoice When I See A Tribunal Filled With A Man Of An Upright And Inflexible Temper, Who In The Execution Of His Country's Laws Can Overcome All Private Fear, Resentment, Solicitation, And Even Pity It Self. Whatever Passion Enters Into A Sentence Or Decision, So Far Will There Be In It A Tincture Of Injustice. In Short, Justice Discards Party, Friendship, Kindred, And Is Therefore Always Represented As Blind, That We May Suppose Her Thoughts Are Wholly Intent On The Equity Of A Cause, Without Being Diverted Or Prejudiced By Objects Foreign To It.

Justice Discards Party, Friendship, Kindred, And Is Always, Therefore, Represented As Blind.

Upon Laying A Weight In One Of The Scales, Inscribed Eternity, Though I Threw In That Of Time, Prosperity, Affliction, Wealth, And Poverty, Which Seemed Very Ponderous, They Were Not Able To Stir The Opposite Balance.

I Would Have Every Zealous Man Examine His Heart Thoroughly, And I Believe He Will Often Find That What Be Calls A Zeal For His Religion Is Either Pride, Interest, Or Ill-repute.

There Is Not Any Present Moment That Is Unconnected With Some Future One. The Life Of Every Man Is A Continued Chain Of Incidents, Each Link Of Which Hangs Upon The Former.

It Is Always To Be Understood That A Lady Takes All You Detract From The Rest Of Her Sex To Be A Gift To Her.

Female Virtues Are Of A Domestick Turn. The Family Is The Proper Province For Private Women To Shine In. If They Must Be Showing Their Zeal For The Publick, Let It Not Be Against Those Who Are Perhaps Of The Same Family, Or At Least Of The Same Religion Or Nation, But Against Those Who Are The Open, Professed, Undoubted Enemies Of Their Faith, Liberty, And Country.

I Have Sent For You That You May See How A Christian May Die.

True Happiness Arises, In The First Place, From The Enjoyment Of One's Self, And In The Next, From The Friendship And Conversation Of A Few Select Companions.

Government Mitigates The Inequality Of Power, And Makes An Innocent Man, Though Of The Lowest Rank, A Match For The Mightiest Of His Fellow-subjects.

Loveliest Of Women! Heaven Is In Thy Soul, Beauty And Virtue Shine Forever Round Thee, Bright'ning Each Other! Thou Art All Divine!

When I Read The Epitaphs Of The Beautiful, Every Inordinate Desire Goes Out; When I Meet With The Grief Of Parents Upon A Tombstone, My Heart Melts With Compassion; When I See The Tomb Of The Parents Themselves, I Consider The Vanity Of Grieving For Those Whom We Must Quickly Follow: When I See Kings Lying By Those Who Deposed Them, When I Consider Rival Wits Placed Side By Side, Or The Holy Men That Divided The World With Their Contests And Disputes, I Reflect With Sorrow And Astonishment On The Little Competitions, Factions, And Debates Of Mankind.

I Shall Endeavour To Enliven Morality With Wit, And To Temper Wit With Morality, That My Readers May, If Possible, Both Ways Findtheir Account In The Speculation Of The Day.

I Do Not Propose To Our British Ladies, That They Should Turn Amazons In The Service Of Their Sovereign, Nor So Much As Let Their Nails Grow For The Defence Of Their Country. The Men Will Take The Work Of The Field Off Their Hands, And Show The World, That English Valour Cannot Be Matched When It Is Animated By English Beauty.

When I Read The Rules Of Criticism, I Immediately Inquire After The Works Of The Author Who Has Written Them, And By That Means Discover What It Is He Likes In A Composition.

It Is The Privilege Of Posterity To Set Matters Right Between Those Antagonists Who, By Their Rivalry For Greatness, Divided A Whole Age.

A Brother's Sufferings Claim A Brother's Pity.

Great Souls By Instinct To Each Other Turn, Demand Alliance, And In Friendship Burn.

Lost Friendship

Young Men Soon Give, And Soon Forget, Affronts; Old Age Is Slow In Both.

What Sculpture Is To A Block Of Marble, Education Is To The Human Soul.

Books Are The Legacies That A Great Genius Leaves To Mankind

All Well-regulated Families Set Apart An Hour Every Morning For Tea And Bread And Butter

That Fine Part Of Our Construction, The Eye, Seems As Much The Receptacle And Seat Of Our Passions As The Mind Itself; And At Least It Is The Outward Portal To Introduce Them To The House Within, Or Rather The Common Thoroughfare To Let Our Affections Pass In And Out.

Hypocrisy Itself Does Great Honor, Or Rather Justice, To Religion, And Tacitly Acknowledges It To Be An Ornament To Human Nature. The Hypocrite Would Not Be At So Much Pains To Put On The Appearance Of Virtue, If He Did Not Know It Was The Most Proper And Effectual Means To Gain The Love And Esteem Of Mankind.

Instability Of Temper Ought To Be Checked When It Disposes Men To Wander From One Scheme To Another: Since Such A Fickleness Cannot But Be Attended With Fatal Consequences.

Cunning Is Only The Mimic Of Discretion, And May Pass Upon Weak Men In The Same Manner As Vivacity Is Often Mistaken For Wit, And Gravity For Wisdom.

Whether Dark Presages Of The Night Proceed From Any Latent Power Of The Soul During Her Abstraction, Or From Any Operation Of Subordinate Spirits, Has Been A Dispute.

It Is The Duty Of All Who Make Philosophy The Entertainment Of Their Lives, To Turn Their Thoughts To Practical Schemes For The Good Of Society, And Not Pass Away Their Time In Fruitless Searches, Which Tend Rather To The Ostentation Of Knowledge Than The Service Of Life.

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.

It Generally Takes Its Rise Either From An Ill-will To Mankind, A Private Inclination To Make Ourselves Esteemed, An Ostentation Of Wit, And Vanity Of Being Thought In The Secrets Of The World; Or From A Desire Of Gratifying Any Of These Dispositions Of Mind In Those Persons With Whom We Converse.

Sir Francis Bacon Observed That A Well-written Book, Compared With Its Rivals And Antagonists, Is Like Moses' Serpent, That Immediately Swallowed Up And Devoured Those Of The Egyptians.

The Moral Virtues, Without Religion Are But Cold, Lifeless, And Insipid; It Is Only Religion Which Opens The Mind To Great Conceptions, Fills It With The Most Sublime Ideas, And Warms The Soul With More Than Sensual Pleasures.

Method Is Not Less Requisite In Ordinary Conversation Than In Writing, Provided A Man Would Talk To Make Himself Understood.

Plutarch Has Written An Essay On The Benefits Which A Man May Receive From His Enemies; And Among The Good Fruits Of Enmity, Mentions This In Particular, That By The Reproaches Which It Casts Upon Us, We See The Worst Side Of Ourselves.

Soon As The Evening Shades Prevail, The Moon Takes Up The Wondrous Tale, And Nightly To The Listening Earth Repeats The Story Of Her Birth.

Most Of Our Fellow-subjects Are Guided Either By The Prejudice Of Education Or By A Deference To The Judgment Of Those Who Perhaps In Their Own Hearts Disapprove The Opinions Which They Industriously Spread Among The Multitude.

On You, My Lord, With Anxious Fear I Wait, And From Your Judgment Must Expect My Fate.

The Pleasantest Part Of A Man's Life Is Generally That Which Passes In Courtship, Provided His Passion Be Sincere, And The Party Beloved Kind With Discretion. Love, Desire, Hope, All The Pleasing Emotions Of The Soul, Rise In The Pursuit.

I Have Always Preferred Cheerfulness To Mirth. The Latter I Consider As An Act, The Former As A Habit Of Mind. Mirth Is Short And Transient, Cheerfulness Fixed And Permanent.

Prejudice And Self-sufficiency Naturally Proceed From Inexperience Of The World, And Ignorance Of Mankind.

This Party Spirit Has So Ill An Effect On Our Morals, It Has Likewise A Very Great One Upon Our Judgments.

Nature Does Nothing Without Purpose Or Uselessly.

The Unassuming Youth Seeking Instruction With Humility Gains Good Fortune.

A Man Who Is Furnished With Arguments From The Mint, Will Convince His Antagonist Much Sooner Than One Who Draws Them From Reason And Philosophy. - Gold Is A Wonderful Clearer Of The Understanding; It Dissipates Every Doubt And Scruple In An Instant; Accommodates Itself To The Meanest Capacities; Silences The Loud And Clamorous, And Cringes Over The Most Obstinate And Inflexible. - Philip Of Macedon Was A Man Of Most Invincible Reason This Way. He Refuted By It All The Wisdom Of Athens; Confounded Their Statesmen; Struck Their Orators Dumb; And At Length Argued Them Out Of All Their Liberties.

Music Religious Heat Inspires, It Wakes The Soul, And Lifts It High, And Wings It With Sublime Desires, And Fits It To Bespeak The Deity.

Religion Prescribes To Every Miserable Man The Means Of Bettering His Condition; Nay, It Shows Him That The Bearing Of His Afflictions As He Ought To Do, Will Naturally End In The Removal Of Them.

Mysterious Love, Uncertain Treasure, Hast Thou More Of Pain Or Pleasure! Endless Torments Dwell About Thee: Yet Who Would Live, And Live Without Thee!

Music Is The Only Sensual Gratification Which Mankind May Indulge In To Excess Without Injury To Their Moral Or Religious Feelings.

If There's A Power Above Us, (and That There Is All Nature Cries Aloud Through All Her Works,) He Must Delight In Virtue.

Pride Goes Before Destruction And A Haughty Spirit Before A Fall.

A Cheerful Temper, Joined With Innocence Will Make Beauty Attractive, Knowledge Delightful, And Wit Good-natured.

Beauty Commonly Produces Love, But Cleanliness Preserves It. Age Itself Is Not Unamiable While It Is Preserved Clean And Unsullied; Like A Piece Of Metal Constantly Kept Smooth And Bright, We Look On It With More Pleasure Than On A New Vessel Cankered With Rust.

Among All Kinds Of Writing, There Is None In Which Authors Are More Apt To Miscarry Than In Works Of Humour, As There Is None In Which They Are More Ambitious To Excel.

Should A Writer Single Out And Point His Raillery At Particular Persons, Or Satirize The Miserable, He Might Be Sure Of Pleasing A Great Part Of His Readers, But Must Be A Very Ill Man If He Could Please Himself.

Even The Greatest Actions Of A Celebrated Person Labor Under This Disadvantage, That However Surprising And Extraordinary They May Be, They Are No More Than What Are Expected From Him.

T Is Liberty Crowns Britannia's Isle, And Makes Her Barren Rocks And Her Bleak Mountains Smile.

Content Thyself To Be Obscurely Good.

When I Consider The Question, Whether There Are Such Persons In The World As Those We Call Witches? My Mind Is Divided Between The Two Opposite Opinions; Or Rather I Believe In General That There Is, And Has Been Such A Thing As Witchcraft; But At The Same Time Can Give No Credit To Any Particular Instance Of It.

The Ways Of Heaven Are Dark And Intricate, Puzzled In Mazes, And Perplex'd With Errors; Our Understanding Traces Them In Vain, Lost And Bewilder'd In The Fruitless Search; Nor Sees With How Much Art The Windings Run, Nor Where The Regular Confusion Ends.

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

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!

Knowledge Is, Indeed, That Which, Next To Virtue, Truly And Essentially Raises One Man Above Another.

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 Utmost Extent Of Man's Knowledge, Is To Know That He Knows Nothing.

The Most Skillful Flattery Is To Let A Person Talk On, And Be A Listener.

When A Woman Comes To Her Class, She Does Not Employ Her Time In Making Herself Look More Advantageously What She Really Is, But Endeavours To Be As Much Another Creature As She Possibly Can. Whether This Happens Because They Stay So Long And Attend Their Work So Diligently That They Forget The Faces And Persons, Which They First Sat Down With, Or Whatever It Is, They Seldom Rise From The Toilet The Same Woman They Appeared When They Began To Dress

The Statue Lies Hid In A Block Of Marble; And The Art Of The Statuary Only Clears Away The Superfluous Matter, And Removes The Rubbish.

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