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From Social Intercourse Are Derived Some Of The Highest Enjoyments Of Life; Where There Is A Free Interchange Of Sentiments The Mind Acquires New Ideas, And By Frequent Exercise Of Its Powers, The Understanding Gains Fresh Vigor.

-Joseph Addison

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From Social Intercourse Are

Joseph Addison

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From Social Intercourse Are Derived Some Of The Highest Enjoyments Of Life; Where There Is A Free Interchange Of Sentiments The Mind Acquires New Ideas, And By Frequent Exercise Of Its Powers, The Understanding Gains Fresh Vigor.

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

Ultimate Happiness

The Intelligence Of Affection Is Carried On By The Eye Only; Good-breeding Has Made The Tongue Falsify The Heart, And Act A Part Of Continued Restraint, While Nature Has Preserved The Eyes To Herself, That She May Not Be Disguised Or Misrepresented.

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.

Animals, In Their Generation, Are Wiser Than The Sons Of Men; But Their Wisdom Is Confined To A Few Particulars, And Lies In A Very Narrow Compass.

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

I Consider An Human Soul Without Education Like Marble In The Quarry, Which Shows None Of Its Inherent Beauties Till The Skill Of The Polisher Fetches Out The Colours, Makes The Surface Shine, And Discovers Every Ornamental Cloud, Spot And Vein That Runs Through The Body Of It.

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

The Important Question Is Not, What Will Yield To Man A Few Scattered Pleasures, But What Will Render His Life Happy On The Whole Amount.

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?

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.

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.

I Am Very Much Concerned When I See Young Gentlemen Of Fortune And Quality So Wholly Set Upon Pleasures And Diversions, That They Neglect All Those Improvements In Wisdom And Knowledge Which May Make Them Easy To Themselves And Useful To The World.

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

We Are Growing Serious, And, Let Me Tell You, That's The Very Next Step To Being Dull.

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.

Ridicule Is Generally Made Use Of To Laugh Men Out Of Virtue And Good Sense, By Attacking Everything Praiseworthy In Human Life.

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.

The Gloomy Months Of November, When The People Of England Hang And Drown Themselves.

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

Good Nature Is More Agreeable In Conversation Than Wit And Gives A Certain Air To The Countenance Which Is More Amiable Than Beauty.

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

Those Who Were Skillful In Anatomy Among The Ancients, Concluded From The Outward And Inward Make Of An Human Body, That It Was The Work Of A Being Transcendently Wise And Powerful. As The World Grew More Enlightened In This Art, Their Discoveries Gave Them Fresh Opportunities Of Admiring The Conduct Of Providence In The Formation Of An Human Body.

There Is Nothing Which We Receive With So Much Reluctance As Advice.

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

The Voice Of Reason Is More To Be Regarded Than The Bent Of Any Present Inclination; Since Inclination Will At Length Come Over To Reason, Though We Can Never Force Reason To Comply With Inclination.

They Were A People So Primitive They Did Not Know How To Get Money, Except By Working For 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.'

The Greatest Sweetener Of Human Life Is Friendship.

The Infusion Of A China Plant Sweetened With The Pith Of An Indian Cane.

A Virtuous Mind In A Fair Body Is Indeed A Fine Picture In A Good Light, And Therefore It Is No Wonder That It Makes The Beautiful Sex All Over Charms.

I Have Often Thought, Says Sir Roger, It Happens Very Well That Christmas Should Fall Out In The Middle Of Winter.

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

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

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?

My Voice Is Still For War. Gods! Can A Roman Senate Long Debate Which Of The Two To Choose, Slavery Or Death?

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.

Men Who Cherish For Women The Highest Respect Are Seldom Popular With Them.

As Vivacity Is The Gift Of Women, Gravity Is That Of Men.

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.

Modesty Is Not Only An Ornament, But Also A Guard To Virtue.

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 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.

I Think A Person Who Is Thus Terrified With The Imagination Of Ghosts And Spectres Much More Reasonable, Than One Who Contrary To The Reports Of All Historians Sacred And Profane, Ancient And Modern, And To The Traditions Of All Nations, Thinks The Appearance Of Spirits Fabulous And Groundless.

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

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

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

Were A Man's Sorrows And Disquietudes Summed Up At The End Of His Life, It Would Generally Be Found That He Had Suffered More From The Apprehension Of Such Evils As Never Happened To Him Than From Those Evils Which Had Really Befallen Him.

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.

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

God Discovers The Martyr And Confessor Without The Trial Of Flames And Tortures, And Will Hereafter Entitle Many To The Reward Of Actions Which They Had Never The Opportunity Of Performing.

There Are No More Useful Members In A Commonwealth Than Merchants. They Knit Mankind Together In A Mutual Intercourse Of Good Offices, Distribute The Gifts Of Nature, Find Work For The Poor, And Wealth To The Rich, And Magnificence To The Great.

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

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.

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

Jesters Do Often Prove Prophets.

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.

A Perfect Tragedy Is The Noblest Production Of Human Nature.

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.

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

Encourage Innocent Amusement.

There Is Not A More Unhappy Being Than A Superannuated Idol.

Complaisance, Though In Itself It Be Scarce Reckoned In The Number Of Moral Virtues, Is That Which Gives A Lustre To Every Talent A Man Can Be Possessed Of. It Was Plato's Advice To An Unpolished Writer That He Should Sacrifice To The Graces. In The Same Manner I Would Advise Every Man Of Learning, Who Would Not Appear In The World A Mere Scholar Or Philosopher, To Make Himself Master Of The Social Virtue Which I Have Here Mentioned.

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.

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.

Advertisements Are Of Great Use To The Vulgar. First Of All, As They Are Instruments Of Ambition. A Man That Is By No Means Big Enough For The Gazette, May Easily Creep Into The Advertisements; By Which Means We Often See An Apothecary In The Same Paper Of News With A Plenipotentiary, Or A Running Footman With An Ambassador.

My Death And Life, My Bane And Antidote, Are Both Before Me.

The Dawn Is Overcast, The Morning Lowers, And Heavily In Clouds Brings On The Day, The Great, The Important Day, Big With The Fate Of Cato And Of Rome.

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

Content Has A Kindly Influence On The Soul Of Man, In Respect Of Every Being To Whom He Stands Related. It Extinguishes All Murmuring, Repining, And Ingratitude Toward That Being Who Has Allotted Us Our Part To Act In The World. It Destroys All Inordinate Ambition; Gives Sweetness To The Conversation, And Serenity To All The Thoughts; And If It Does Not Bring Riches, It Does The Same Thing By Banishing The Desire Of Them.

I Shall Endeavor To Enliven Morality With Wit, And To Temper Wit With Morality.

Sweet Are The Slumbers Of The Virtuous Man.

Health And Happiness Give Rise To Each Other.

It Is Not The Business Of Virtue To Extirpate The Affections Of The Mind, But To Regulate Them.

Others Proclaim The Infirmities Of A Great Man With Satisfaction And Complacence, If They Discover None Of The Like In Themselves.

It Is Indeed Very Possible, That The Persons We Laugh At May In The Main Of Their Characters Be Much Wiser Men Than Our Selves; But If They Would Have Us Laugh At Them, They Must Fall Short Of Us In Those Respects Which Stir Up This Passion.

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

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.

What Pity Is It That We Can Die, But Once To Serve Our Country.

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

An Idol May Be Undeified By Many Accidental Causes. Marriage, In Particular, Is A Kind Of Counter Apotheosis, As A Deification Inverted. When A Man Becomes Familiar With His Goddess She Quickly Sinks Into A Woman.

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

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

Let Freedom Never Perish In Your Hands.

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.

A Common Civility To An Impertinent Fellow, Often Draws Upon One A Great Many Unforeseen Troubles; And If One Doth Not Take Particular Care, Will Be Interpreted By Him As An Overture Of Friendship And Intimacy.

Allegories, When Well Chosen, Are Like So Many Tracks Of Light In A Discourse, That Make Everything About Them Clear And Beautiful.

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.

Our Sight Is The Most Perfect And Most Delightful Of All Our Senses.

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

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

There Is No Defence Against Reproach, But Obscurity; It Is A Kind Of Concomitant To Greatness, As Satires And Invectives Were An Essential Part Of A Roman Triumph.

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.

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.

If We May Believe Our Logicians, Man Is Distinguished From All Other Creatures By The Faculty Of Laughter. He Has A Heart Capable Of Mirth, And Naturally Disposed To It.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Good-breeding Shows Itself Most Where To An Ordinary Eye It Appears The Least.

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.

The Unassuming Youth Seeking Instruction With Humility Gains Good Fortune.

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

A Person May Be Qualified To Do Greater Good To Mankind And Become More Beneficial To The World, By Morality Without Faith Than By Faith Without Morality.

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.

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.

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.

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

Round-heads And Wooden-shoes Are Standing Jokes.

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.

There Is Sometimes A Greater Judgement Shewn In Deviating From The Rules Of Art, Than In Adhering To Them; And?there Ismore Beauty Inthe Works Of A Great Genius Who Is Ignorant Of All The Rules Of Art, Than In The Works Of A Little Genius, Who Not Only Knows But Scrupulously Observes Them.

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.

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.

Nothing Lies On Our Hands With Such Uneasiness As Time. Wretched And Thoughtless Creatures! In The Only Place Where Covetousness Were A Virtue We Turn Prodigals.

If Men, Who In Their Hearts Are Friends To A Government, Forbear Giving It Their Utmost Assistance Against Its Enemies, They Put It In The Power Of A Few Desperate Men To Ruin The Welfare Of Those Who Are Much Superior To Them In Strength, Number, And Interest.

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.

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.

When A Man Is Made Up Wholly Of The Dove, Without The Least Grain Of The Serpent In His Composition, He Becomes Ridiculous In Many Circumstances Of Life, And Very Often Discredits His Best Actions.

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

Great Pompey's Shade Complains That We Are Slow, And Scipio's Ghost Walks Unavenged Amongst Us!

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.

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

A Day, An Hour, Of Virtuous Liberty Is Worth A Whole Eternity In Bondage.

Fables Take Off From The Severity Of Instruction, And Enforce It At The Same Time That They Conceal It.

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.

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.

A Reader Seldom Peruses A Book With Pleasure Until He Knows Whether The Writer Of It Be A Black Man Or A Fair Man, Of A Mild Or Choleric Disposition, Married Or A Bachelor.

We Find The Works Of Nature Still More Pleasant, The More They Resemble Those Of Art.

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.

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.

Honour's A Sacred Tie, The Law Of Kings, The Noble Mind's Distinguishing Perfection That Aids And Strengthens Virtue Where It Meets Her And Imitates Her Actions Where She Is Not: It Is Not To Be Sported With.

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.

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.

There Is No Passion That Steals Into The Heart More Imperceptibly And Covers Itself Under More Disguises Than Pride.

An Indiscreet Man Is More Hurtful Than An Ill-natured One; For As The Latter Will Only Attack His Enemies, And Those He Wishes Ill To, The Other Injures Indifferently Both Friends And Foes.

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.

Let Echo, Too, Perform Her Part, Prolonging Every Note With Art; And In A Low Expiring Strain, Play All The Comfort O'er Again.

Plutarch Says Very Finely That A Man Should Not Allow Himself To Hate Even His Enemies.

My Heart Leaps At The Trumpet's Voice.

An Evil Intention Perverts The Best Actions, And Makes Them Sins.

In Rising Sighs And Falling Tears.

Courage Is The Thing. All Goes If Courage Goes.

In The Loss Of An Object We Do Not Proportion Our Grief To The Real Value It Bears, But To The Value Our Fancies Set Upon It.

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.

The English Delight In Silence More Than Any Other European Nation, If The Remarks Which Are Made On Us By Foreigners Are True.

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.

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

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.

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.

Irresolution On The Schemes Of Life Which Offer Themselves To Our Choice, And Inconstancy In Pursuing Them, Are The Greatest Causes Of All Our Unhappiness.

We Are Always Doing Something For Posterity, But I Would Fain See Posterity Do Something For Us.

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

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

There Is Nothing That Makes Its Way More Directly Into The Soul Than Beauty.

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.

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

Lost Friendship

When All Thy Mercies, O My God, My Rising Soul Surveys, Transported With The View I'm Lost, In Wonder, Love And Praise.

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.

For My Own Part, I Am Apt To Join In The Opinion With Those Who Believe That All The Regions Of Nature Swarm With Spirits, And That We Have Multitudes Of Spectators On All Our Actions When We Think Ourselves Most Alone.

Music, The Greatest Good That Mortals Know And All Of Heaven We Have Hear Below.

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.

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

Admiration And Respect

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

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

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

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

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.

Supposing All The Great Points Of Atheism Were Formed Into A Kind Of Creed, I Would Fain Ask Whether It Would Not Require An Infinite Greater Measure Of Faith Than Any Set Of Articles Which They So Violently Oppose.

Conspiracies No Sooner Should Be Formed Than Executed.

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

Nature Seems To Have Taken A Particular Care To Disseminate Her Blessings Among The Different Regions Of The World, With An Eye To Their Mutual Intercourse And Traffic Among Mankind, That The Nations Of The Several Parts Of The Globe Might Have A Kind Of Dependence Upon One Another And Be United Together By Their Common Interest.

In England We See People Lulled Sleep With Solid And Elaborate Discourses Of Piety, Who Would Be Warmed And Transported Out Of Themselves By The Bellowings And Distortions Of Enthusiasm.

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.

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

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.

Blesses His Stars And Thinks It Luxury.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Riches Are Apt To Betray A Man Into Arrogance.

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.

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

We Are Apt To Rely Upon Future Prospects, And Become Really Expensive While We Are Only Rich In Possibility. We Live Up To Our Expectations, Not To Our Possessions, And Make A Figure Proportionable To What We May Be, Not What We Are.

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

The Moral Perfections Of The Deity, The More Attentively, We Consider, The More Perfectly Still Shall We Know Them.

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.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

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.

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

Flying Would Give Such Occasions For Intrigues As People Cannot Meet With Who Have Nothing But Legs To Carry Them.

Peaceable Times Are The Best To Live In, Though Not So Proper To Furnish Materials For A Writer.

There Is Nothing Touches Our Imagination So Much As A Beautiful Woman In A Plain Dress.

Beautiful Women

Better To Die Ten Thousand Deaths, Than Wound My Honour.

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.

Our Sight Is The Most Perfect And Most Delightful Of All Our Senses. It Fills The Mind With The Largest Variety Of Ideas, Converses With Its Objects At The Greatest Distance, And Continues The Longest In Action Without Being Tired Or Satiated With Its Proper Enjoyments.

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