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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.

-Joseph Addison

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Even The Greatest Actions

Joseph Addison

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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.

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I Think I May Define Taste To Be That Faculty Of The Soul Which Discerns The Beauties Of An Author With Pleasure, And The Imperfections With Dislike.

True Religion And Virtue Give A Cheerful And Happy Turn To The Mind, Admit Of All True Pleasures, And Even Procure For Us The Highest.

Adulterers, In The First Stages Of The Church, Were Excommunicated Forever, And Unqualified All Their Lives For Bearing A Part In Christian Assemblies, Notwithstanding They Might Seek It With Tears, And All The Appearances Of The Most Unfeigned Repentance.

Our Grub-street Biographers Watch For The Death Of A Great Man Like So Many Undertakers On Purpose To Make A Penny Of Him.

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.

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.

The Fear Of Death Often Proves Mortal, And Sets People On Methods To Save Their Lives, Which Infallibly Destroy Them.

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.

To A Man Of Pleasure Every Moment Appears To Be Lost, Which Partakes Not Of The Vivacity Of Amusement.

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

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.

What Can Be Nobler Than The Idea It Gives Us Of The Supreme Being?

The Ungrown Glories Of His Beamy Hair.

A Man With Great Talents, But Void Of Discretion, Is Like Polyphemus In The Fable, Strong And Blind, Endued With An Irresistible Force, Which For Want Of Sight Is Of No Use To Him.

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.

Reading Is To The Mind, What Exercise Is To The Body. As By The One, Health Is Preserved, Strengthened, And Invigorated: By The Other, Virtue (which Is The Health Of The Mind) Is Kept Alive, Cherished, And Confirmed.

The Unjustifiable Severity Of A Parent Is Loaded With This Aggravation, That Those Whom He Injures Are Always In His Sight.

Our Forefathers Looked Upon Nature With More Reverence And Horror, Before The World Was Enlightened By Learning And Philosophy, And Loved To Astonish Themselves With The Apprehensions Of Witchcraft, Prodigies, Charms, And Inchantments. There Was Not A Village In England That Had Not A Ghost In It, The Church-yards Were All Haunted, Every Large Common Had A Circle Of Fairies Belonging To It, And There Was Scarce A Shepherd To Be Met With Who Had Not Seen A Spirit.

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

Among The English Authors, Shakespeare Has Incomparably Excelled All Others. That Noble Extravagance Of Fancy, Which He Had In So Great Perfection, Thoroughly Qualified Him To Touch The Weak, Superstitious Part Of His Readers' Imagination, And Made Him Capable Of Succeeding Where He Had Nothing To Support Him Besides The Strength Of His Own Genius.

A Few Persons Of An Odious And Despised Country Could Not Have Filled The World With Believers, Had They Not Shown Undoubted Credentials From The Divine Person Who Sent Them On Such A Message.

Gold Is A Wonderful Clearer Of The Understanding; It Dissipates Every Doubt And Scruple In An Instant.

Those Marriages Generally Abound Most With Love And Constancy, That Are Preceded By A Long Courtship.

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

Wine Displays Every Little Spot Of The Soul In Its Utmost Deformity.

There Is Not A More Pleasing Exercise Of The Mind Than Gratitude. It Is Accompanied With Such An Inward Satisfaction That The Duty Is Sufficiently Rewarded By The Performance

He Only Is A Great Man Who Can Neglect The Applause Of The Multitude And Enjoy Himself Independent Of Its Favor.

I Have Often Thought If The Minds Of Men Were Laid Open, We Should See But Little Difference Between That Of The Wise Man And That Of The Fool. There Are Infinite Reveries, Numberless Extravagances, And A Perpetual Train Of Vanities Which Pass Through Both. The Great Difference Is, That The First Knows How To Pick And Cull His Thoughts For Conversation, By Suppressing Some, And Communicating Others; Whereas The Other Lets Them All Indifferently Fly Out In Words.

The Memory Is Perpetually Looking Back When We Have Nothing Present To Entertain Us. It Is Like Those Repositories In Animals That Are Filled With Food, On Which They May Ruminate When Their Present Pastures Fail.

Ladies Are Always Of Great Use To The Party They Espouse, And Never Fail To Win Over Numbers To It. Lovers, According To Sir William Petty's Computation, Make At Least The Third Part Of Sensible Men Of The British Nation; And It Has Been An Uncontroverted Maxim In All Ages, That Though A Husband Is Sometimes A Stubborn Sort Of A Creature, A Lover Is Always At The Devotion Of His Mistress. By This Means, It Lies In The Power Of Every Fine Woman, To Secure At Least Half A Dozen Able-bodied Men To His Majesty's Service.

A Thousand Glorious Actions That Might Claim Triumphant Laurels, And Immortal Fame, Confus'd In Crowds Of Glorious Actions Lie, And Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

Charity Is The Perfection And Ornament Of Religion.

If I Can In Any Way Contribute To The Diversion Or Improvement Of The Country In Which I Live, I Shall Leave It, When I Am Summoned Out Of It, With The Secret Satisfaction Of Thinking That I Have Not Lived In Vain.

Irregularity And Want Of Method Are Only Supportable In Men Of Great Learning Or Genius, Who Are Often Too Full To Be Exact, And Therefore They Choose To Throw Down Their Pearls In Heaps Before The Reader, Rather Than Be At The Pains Of Stringing Them.

Man Is Distinguished From All Other Creatures By The Faculty Of Laughter.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Upon Excellencies Rather Than Imperfections, To Discover The Concealed Beauties Of A Writer, And Communicate To The World Such Things As Are Worth Their Observation.

The Discreet Man Finds Out The Talents Of Those He Converses With, And Knows How To Apply Them To Proper Uses. Accordingly, If We Look Into Particular Communities And Divisions Of Men, We May Observe That It Is The Discreet Man, Not The Witty, Nor The Learned, Nor The Brave, Who Guides The Conversation, And Gives Measures To The Society.

An Opera May Be Allowed To Be Extravagantly Lavish In Its Decorations, As Its Only Design Is To Gratify The Senses And Keep Up An Indolent Attention In The Audience.

The Man Who Will Live Above His Present Circumstances, Is In Great Danger Of Soon Living Beneath Them; Or As The Italian Proverb Says, "the Man That Lives By Hope, Will Die By Despair.

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

A Perfect Tragedy Is The Noblest Production Of Human Nature.

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

No Oppression Is So Heavy Or Lasting As That Which Is Inflicted By The Perversion And Exorbitance Of Legal Authority.

A Misery Is Not To Be Measure From The Nature Of The Evil But From The Temper Of The Sufferer.

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.

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.

Our Real Blessings Often Appear To Us In The Shape Of Pains, Losses And Disappointments; But Let Us Have Patience And We Soon Shall See Them In Their Proper Figures.

Silence Is Sometimes More Significant And Sublime Than The Most Noble And Most Expressive Eloquence, And Is On Many Occasions The Indication Of A Great Mind.

A Wealthy Doctor Who Can Help A Poor Man, And Will Not Without A Fee, Has Less Sense Of Humanity Than A Poor Ruffian, Who Kills A Rich Man To Supply His Necessities.

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.

Round-heads And Wooden-shoes Are Standing Jokes.

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

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.

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

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

There Is Not, In My Opinion, Anything More Mysterious In Nature Than This Instinct In Animals, Which Thus Rise Above Reason, And Yet Fall Infinitely Short Of It.

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.'

Love Is A Second Life; It Grows Into The Soul, Warms Every Vein, And Beats In Every Pulse.

How Beautiful Is Death, When Earn'd By Virtue!

To Be Perfectly Just Is An Attribute Of The Divine Nature; To Be So To The Utmost Of Our Abilities, Is The Glory Of Man.

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.

An Ostentatious Man Will Rather Relate A Blunder Or An Absurdity He Has Committed, Than Be Debarred From Talking Of His Own Dear Person.

Persons In Great Stations Have Seldom Their True Character Drawn Till Several Years After Their Death. Their Personal Friendships And Enmities Must Cease, And The Parties They Were Engaged In Be At An End, Before Their Faults Or Their Virtues Can Have Justice Done Them. When Writers Have The Least Opportunities Of Knowing The Truth, They Are In The Best Disposition To Tell It.

Our Friends Don't See Our Faults, Or Conceal Them, Or Soften Them.

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!

Men Of Warm Imaginations And Towering Thoughts Are Apt To Overlook The Goods Of Fortune Which Are Near Them, For Something That Glitters In The Sight At A Distance; To Neglect Solid And Substantial Happiness For What Is Showy And Superficial; And To Contemn That Good Which Lies Within Their Reach, For That Which They Are Not Capable Of Attaining. Hope Calculates Its Schemes For A Long And Durable Life; Presses Forward To Imaginary Points Of Bliss; Grasps At Impossibilities; And Consequently Very Often Ensnares Men Into Beggary, Ruin, And Dishonour.

I Would Fain Ask One Of These Bigotted Infidels, Supposing All The Great Points Of Atheism... Were Laid Together And Formed Into A Kind Of Creed, According To The Opinions Of The Most Celebrated Atheists; I Say, Supposing Such A Creed As This Were Formed, And Imposed Upon Any One People In The World, Whether It Would Not Require An Infinitely Greater Measure Of Faith, Than Any Set Of Articles Which They So Violently Oppose.

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.

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.

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.

It Is Certain That There Is No Other Passion Which Does Produce Such Contrary Effects In So Great A Degree. But This May Be Said For Love, That If You Strike It Out Of The Soul, Life Would Be Insipid, And Our Being But Half Animated.

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

Exercise Ferments The Humors, Casts Them Into Their Proper Channels, Throws Off Redundancies, And Helps Nature In Those Secret Distributions, Without Which The Body Cannot Subsist In Its Vigor, Nor The Soul Act With Cheerfulness.

Whilst I Yet Live, Let Me Not Live In Vain.

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.

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

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.

Thy Steady Temper, Portius, Can Look On Guilt, Rebellion, Fraud, And Cæsar, In The Calm Lights Of Mild Philosophy.

A Man Improves More By Reading The Story Of A Person Eminent For Prudence And Virtue, Than By The Finest Rules And Precepts Of Morality.

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.

The Greatest Parts, Without Discretion As Observed By An Elegant Writer, May Be Fatal To Their Owner; As Polyphemus, Deprived Of His Eyes, Was Only The More Exposed On Account Of His Enormous Strength And Stature.

Mankind Are More Indebted To Industry Than Ingenuity; The Gods Set Up Their Favors At A Price, And Industry Is The Purchaser.

Why, A Spirit Is Such A Little, Little Thing, That I Have Heard Man, Who Was A Great Scholar, Say That He'll Dance Ye A Hornpipe Upon The Point Of A Needle.

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

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.

Look What A Little Vain Dust We Are!

Riches Are Apt To Betray A Man Into Arrogance.

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.

Health And Cheerfulness Naturally Beget Each Other.

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.

The Gods In Bounty Work Up Storms About Us, That Give Mankind Occasion To Exert Their Hidden Strength, And Throw Our Into Practice Virtues That Shun The Day, And Lie Concealed In The Smooth Seasons And The Calms Of Life.

The First Race Of Mankind Used To Dispute, As Our Ordinary People Do Now-a-days, In A Kind Of Wild Logic, Uncultivated By Rule Of Art.

Thus I Live In The World Rather As A Spectator Of Mankind, Than As One Of The Species, By Which Means I Have Made Myself A Speculative Statesman, Soldier, Merchant, And Artisan, Without Ever Meddling With Any Practical Part Of Life.

It Was A Saying Of An Ancient Philosopher, Which I Find Some Of Our Writers Have Ascribed To Queen Elizabeth, Who Perhaps Might Have Taken Occasion To Repeat It, That A Good Face Is A Letter Of Recommendation.

If You Wish Success In Life, Make Perseverance Your Bosom Friend.

An Honest Man, That Is Not Quite Sober, Has Nothing To Fear.

The Jealous Man's Disease Is Of So Malignant A Nature, That It Converts All It Takes Into Its Own Nourishment.

Love Is A Second Life.

Good Nature, And Evenness Of Temper, Will Give You An Easie Companion For Life; Vertue And Good Sense, An Agreeable Friend; Love And Constancy, A Good Wife Or Husband. Where We Meet One Person With All These Accomplishments, We Find An Hundred Without Any One Of Them.

Admiration Is A Very Short-lived Passion, That Immediately Decays Upon Growing Familiar With Its Object.

Admiration And Respect

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

The Transition From Cause To Effect, From Event To Event, Is Often Carried On By Secret Steps, Which Our Foresight Cannot Divine, And Our Sagacity Is Unable To Trace.

We Find That Good And Evil Happen Alike To All Men On This Side Of The Grave; And As The Principle Design Of Tragedy Is To Raise Commiseration And Terror In The Minds Of The Audience, We Shall Defeat This Great End, If We Always Make Virtue And Innocence Happy And Successful.

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

Husband A Lie, And Trump It Up In Some Extraordinary Emergency.

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

Nothing That Is Not A Real Crime Makes A Man Appear So Contemptible And Little In The Eyes Of The World As Inconsistency, Especially When It Regards Religion Or Party. In Either Of These Cases, Though A Man Perhaps Does But His Duty In Changing His Side, He Not Only Makes Himself Hated By Those He Left, But Is Seldom Heartily Esteemed By Those He Comes Over To.

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

If Our Zeal Were True And Genuine We Should Be Much More Angry With A Sinner Than A Heretic.

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.

The Spacious Firmament On High, And All The Blue Ethereal Sky, And Spangled Heavens, A Shining Frame, Their Great Original Proclaim.

Novelty Serves Us For A Kind Of Refreshment, And Takes Off From That Satiety We Are Apt To Complain Of In Our Usual And Ordinary Entertainments.

Though There Is A Benevolence Due To All Mankind, None Can Question But A Superior Degree Of It Is To Be Paid To A Father, A Wife, Or Child. In The Same Manner, Though Our Love Should Reach To The Whole Species, A Greater Proportion Of It Should Exert Itself Towards That Community In Which Providence Has Placed Us. This Is Our Proper Sphere Of Action, The Province Allotted Us For The Exercise Of Our Civil Virtues, And In Which Alone We Have Opportunities Of Expressing Our Goodwill To Mankind.

Nature In Her Whole Drama Never Drew Such A Part; She Has Sometimes Made A Fool, But A Coxcomb Is Always Of A Man's Own Making.

It Is Very Wonderful To See Persons Of The Best Sense Passing Hours Together In Shuffling And Dividing A Pack Of Cards With No Conversation But What Is Made Up Of A Few Game-phrases, And No Other Ideas But Those Of Black Or Red Spots Arranged Together In Different Figures. Would Not A Man Laugh To Hear Any One Of His Species Complaining That Life Is Short?

Though A Man Cannot Abstain From Being Weak, He May From Being Vicious.

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.

It Is Wonderful To See Persons Of Sense Passing Away A Dozen Hours Together In Shuffling And Dividing A Pack Of Cards.

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.

A Fine Coat Is But A Livery When The Person Who Wears It Discovers No Higher Sense Than That Of A Footman.

No Man Writes A Book Without Meaning Something, Though He May Not Have The Faculty Of Writing Consequentially And Expressing His Meaning.

No One Is More Cherished In This World Than Someone Who Lightens The Burden Of Another. Thank You.

Good Nature Will Always Supply The Absence Of Beauty; But Beauty Cannot Supply The Absence Of Good Nature.

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.

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

But In All Despotic Governments, Though A Particular Prince May Favour Arts And Letter, There Is A Natural Degeneracy Of Mankind.

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.

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.

We Make Provisions For This Life As If It Were Never To Have An End, And For The Other Life As Though It Were Never To Have A Beginning.

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.

It Is A Celebrated Thought Of Socrates, That If All The Misfortunes Of Mankind Were Cast Into A Public Stock, In Order To Be Equally Distributed Among The Whole Species, Those Who Now Think Themselves The Most Unhappy Would Prefer The Share They Are Already Possessed Of, Before That Which Would Fall To Them By Such A Division. [as They Realise Their Problems Could Be Worse!]

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.

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.

There Is A Sort Of Economy In Providence That One Shall Excel Where Another Is Defective, In Order To Make Men More Useful To Each Other, And Mix Them In Society.

A Woman Seldom Asks Advice Before She Has Bought Her Wedding Clothes.

Sweet Are The Slumbers Of The Virtuous Man.

There Is Not A More Melancholy Object Than A Man Who Has His Head Turned With Religious Enthusiasm.

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!

Our Delight In Any Particular Study, Art, Or Science Rises And Improves In Proportion To The Application Which We Bestow Upon It. Thus, What Was At First An Exercise Becomes At Length An Entertainment.

There Is Not So Variable A Thing In Nature As A Lady's Head-dress.

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

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?

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.

One Would Think That The Larger The Company Is In Which We Are Engaged, The Greater Variety Of Thoughts And Subjects Would Be Started Into Discourse; But, Instead Of This We Find That Conversation Is Never So Much Straightened And Confined, As In Numerous Assemblies.

Talk Not Of Love: Thou Never Knew'st Its Force.

Every Man In The Time Of Courtship And In The First Entrance Of Marriage, Puts On A Behavior Like My Correspondent's Holiday Suit.

The Lord My Pasture Shall Prepare, And Feed Me With A Shepherd's Care; His Presence Shall My Wants Supply, And Guard Me With A Watchful Eye.

To Be Exempt From The Passions With Which Others Are Tormented, Is The Only Pleasing Solitude.

Pleasing Others

Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

We See No Where The Pernicious Effects Of Luxury On A Republic More Than In That Of The Ancient Romans, Who Immediately Found Itself Poor As Soon As This Vice Got Footing Among Them, Though They Were Possessed Of All The Riches In The World.

We Have In England A Particular Bashfulness In Every Thing That Regards Religion.

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

There Is Not A More Pleasante Exercise Of The Mind Than Gratitude.

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.

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.

Temperance Gives Nature Her Full Play, And Enables Her To Exert Herself In All Her Force And Vigor.

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. The Transition From Cause To Effect, From Event To Event, Is Often Carried On By Secret Steps, Which Our Foresight Cannot Divine, And Our Sagacity Is Unable To Trace. Evil May At Some Future Period Bring Forth Good; And Good May Bring Forth Evil, Both Equally Unexpected.

Nothing Is More Gratifying To The Mind Of Man Than Power Or Dominion.

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.

Mutability Of Temper And Inconsistency With Ourselves Is The Greatest Weakness Of Human Nature.

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.

A Satire Should Expose Nothing But What Is Corrigible, And Should Make A Due Discrimination Between Those That Are And Those That Are Not The Proper Objects Of It.

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

The Woman That Deliberates Is Lost.

Wine Heightens Indifference Into Love, Love Into Jealousy, And Jealousy Into Madness. It Often Turns The Good-natured Man Into An Idiot, And The Choleric Into An Assassin. It Gives Bitterness To Resentment, It Makes Vanity Insupportable, And Displays Every Little Spot Of The Soul In Its Utmost Deformity.

Physic Is, For The Most Part, Only A Substitute For Temperance And Exercise.

Life Is Not Long Enough For A Coquette To Play All Her Tricks In.

Though A Man Has All Other Perfections, And Wants Discretion, He Will Be Of No Great Consequence In The World; But If He Has This Single Talent In Perfection, And But A Common Share Of Others, He May Do What He Pleases In His Station Of Life.

How Can It Enter Into The Thoughts Of Man, That The Soul, Which Is Capable Of Such Immense Perfections, And Of Receiving New Improvements To All Eternity, Shall Fall Away Into Nothing Almost As Soon As It Is Created?

The Greatest Sweetener Of Human Life Is Friendship. To Raise This To The Highest Pitch Of Enjoyment, Is A Secret Which But Few Discover.

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

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

Three Grand Essentials To Happiness In This Life Are Something To Do, Something To Love, And Something To Hope For.

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

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

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

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.

That He Delights In The Misery Of Others No Man Will Confess, And Yet What Other Motive Can Make A Father Cruel?

Authors Have Established It As A Kind Of Rule, That A Man Ought To Be Dull Sometimes; As The Most Severe Reader Makes Allowances For Many Rests And Nodding-places In A Voluminous Writer.

When Love's Well-timed 'tis Not A Fault To Love; The Strong, The Brave, The Virtuous, And The Wise, Sink In The Soft Captivity Together.

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.

We Cannot Be Guilty Of A Greater Act Of Uncharitableness, Than To Interpret The Afflictions Which Befall Our Neighbors As Punishments And Judgments.

Friendships, In General, Are Suddenly Contracted; And Therefore It Is No Wonder They Are Easily Dissolved.

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

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

Music, The Greatest Good That Mortals Know, And All Of Heaven We Have Below. Music Can Noble Hints Impart, Engender Fury, Kindle Love; 40 With Unsuspected Eloquence Can Move, And Manage All The Man With Secret Art. When Orpheus Strikes The Trembling Lyre The Streams Stand Still, The Stones Admire; The Listening Savages Advance, The World And Lamb Around Him Trip The Bears In Aukward Measures Leap, And Tigers Mingle In The Dance The Moving Woods Attended As He Played And Rhodope Was Left Without A Shade.

To Say That Authority, Whether Secular Or Religious, Supplies No Ground For Morality Is Not To Deny The Obvious Fact That It Supplies A Sanction.

The Lives Of Great Men Cannot Be Writ With Any Tolerable Degree Of Elegance Or Exactness Within A Short Time After Their Decease.

True Fortitude Is Seen In Great Exploits That Justice Warrants, And That Wisdom Guides; And All Else Is Tow'ring Phrenzy And Distraction.

The Union Of The Word And The Mind Produces That Mystery Which Is Called Life... Learn Deeply Of The Mind And Its Mystery, For Therein Lies The Secret Of Immortality.

Reason Shows Itself In All Occurrences Of Life; Whereas The Brute Makes No Discovery Of Such A Talent, But In What Immediately Regards His Own Preservation Or The Continuance Of His Species.

Nothing Makes A Woman More Esteemed By The Opposite Sex Than Chastity; Whether It Be That We Always Prize Those Most Who Are Hardest To Come At, Or That Nothing Besides Chastity, With Its Collateral Attendants, Truth, Fidelity, And Constancy, Gives A Man A Property In The Person He Loves, And Consequently Endears Her To Him Above All Things.

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.

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.

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

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.

Two Persons Who Have Chosen Each Other Out Of All The Species With A Design To Be Each Other's Mutual Comfort And Entertainment Have, In That Action, Bound Themselves To Be Good-humored, Affable, Discreet, Forgiving, Patient, And Joyful, With Respect To Each Other's Frailties And Perfections, To The End Of Their Lives.

The Friendships Of The World Are Oft Confederacies In Vice, Or Leagues Of Pleasures.

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