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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.

-Joseph Addison

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I Am Very Much

Joseph Addison

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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.

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My Heart Leaps At The Trumpet's Voice.

I Never Knew An Early-rising, Hard-working, Prudent Man, Careful Of His Earnings And Strictly Honest, Who Complained Of Hard Luck. A Good Character, Good Habits And Iron Industry Are Impregnable To The Assaults Of All Ill-luck That Fools Ever Dreamed.

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

Health And Cheerfulness Naturally Beget Each Other.

Knavery Is Ever Suspicious Of Knavery.

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

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

One May Know A Man That Never Conversed In The World, By His Excess Of Good-breeding.

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkwardness.

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.

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.

Vanity Is The Natural Weakness Of An Ambitious Man, Which Exposes Him To The Secret Scorn And Derision Of Those He Converses With, And Ruins The Character He Is So Industrious To Advance By It.

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.

Nature Is Full Of Wonders; Every Atom Is A Standing Miracle, And Endowed With Such Qualities, As Could Not Be Impressed On It By A Power And Wisdom Less Than Infinite.

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.

Oh, Liberty! Thou Goddess Heavenly Bright! Profuse Of Bliss, And Pregnant With Delight! Eternal Pleasures In Thy Presence Reign, And Smiling Plenty Leads Thy Wanton Train.

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

A Soul Exasperated In Ills, Falls Out With Everything, Its Friend, Itself.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

He Who Would Pass His Declining Years With Honor And Comfort, Should, When Young, Consider That He May One Day Become Old, And Remember When He Is Old, That He Has Once Been Young.

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

Poverty Palls The Most Generous Spirits; It Cows Industry, And Casts Resolution Itself Into Despair.

Generous Spirit

Artificial Intelligence Will Never Be A Match For Natural Stupidity.

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.

Justice Is An Unassailable Fortress, Built On The Brow Of A Mountain Which Cannot Be Overthrown By The Violence Of Torrents, Nor Demolished By The Force Of Armies.

What I Spent I Lost; What I Possessed Is Left To Others; What I Gave Away Remains With Me.

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.

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

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.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

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?

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

The Mind That Lies Fallow But A Single Day, Sprouts Up In Follies That Are Only To Be Killed By A Constant And Assiduous Culture.

When A Man Becomes Familiar With His Goddess, She Quickly Sinks Into A Woman.

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.

From Hence, Let Fierce Contending Nations Know, What Dire Effects From Civil Discord Flow.

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.

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.

I Am Wonderfully Pleased When I Meet With Any Passage In An Old Greek Or Latin Author, That Is Not Blown Upon, And Which I Have Never Met With In Any Quotation.

The Schoolboy Counts The Time Till The Return Of The Holidays; The Minor Longs To Be Of Age; The Lover Is Impatient Till He Is Married.

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

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.

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.

The Hours Of A Wise Man Are Lengthened By His Ideas, As Those Of A Fool Are By His Passions. The Time Of The One Is Long, Because He Does Not Know What To Do With It; So Is That Of The Other, Because He Distinguishes Every Moment Of It With Useful Or Amusing Thoughts--or, In Other Words, Because The One Is Always Wishing It Away, And The Other Always Enjoying It.

A Great Large Book Is A Great Evil.

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.

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.

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.

O Ye Powers That Search The Heart Of Man, And Weigh His Inmost Thoughts, If I Have Done Amiss, Impute It Not! The Best May Err, But You Are Good.

True Modesty Avoids Everything That Is Criminal; False Modesty Everything That Is Unfashionable.

Tradition Is An Important Help To History, But Its Statements Should Be Carefully Scrutinized Before We Rely On Them.

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.

The Knight In The Triumph Of His Heart Made Several 6 Reflections On Thegreatness Of The British Nation; As, That One Englishman Could Beat Three Frenchmen; That We Could Never Be In Danger Of Popery So Long As We Took Care Of Our Fleet; That Thethames Was Thenoblest River In Europe; That London Bridge Was A Greater Piece Of Work Than Any Of The Seven Wonders Of The World; With Many Other Honest Prejudices Which Naturally Cleave To The Heart Of A True Englishman.

Courage That Grows From Constitution Very Often Forsakes A Man When He Has Occasion For It, And When It Is Only A Kind Of Instinct In The Soul Breaks Out On All Occasions Without Judgment Or Discretion. That Courage Which Proceeds From The Sense Of Our Duty, And From The Fear Of Offending Him That Made Us, Acts Always In A Uniform Manner, And According To The Dictates Of Right Reason.

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.

Nations With Nations Mix'd Confus'dly Die, And Lost In One Promiscuous Carnage Lie.

Music, When Thus Applied, Raises Noble Hints In The Mind Of The Hearer, And Fills It With Great Conceptions. It Strengthens Devotion, And Advances Praise Into Rapture.

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.

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.

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.

See In What Peace A Christian Can Die.

One Would Wonder To Hear Skeptical Men Disputing For The Reason Of Animals, And Telling Us It Is Only Our Pride And Prejudices That Will Not Allow Them The Use Of That Faculty. 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. 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. Take A Brute Out Of His Instinct, And You Find Him Wholly Deprived Of Understanding.

The Circumstance Which Gives Authors An Advantage Above All These Great Masters, Is This, That They Can Multiply Their Originals; Or Rather, Can Make Copies Of Their Works, To What Number They Please, Which Shall Be As Valuable As The Originals Themselves.

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

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

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

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.

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.

One Would Fancy That The Zealots In Atheism Would Be Exempt From The Single Fault Which Seems To Grow Out Of The Imprudent Fervor Of Religion. But So It Is, That Irreligion Is Propagated With As Much Fierceness And Contention, Wrath And Indignation, As If The Safety Of Mankind Depended Upon It.

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

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.

Man Is Subject To Innumerable Pains And Sorrows By The Very Condition Of Humanity, And Yet, As If Nature Had Not Sown Evils Enough In Life, We Are Continually Adding Grief To Grief And Aggravating The Common Calamity By Our Cruel Treatment Of One Another.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Health And Happiness Give Rise To Each Other.

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.

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

A Good Disposition Is More Valuable Than Gold, For The Latter Is The Gift Of Fortune, But The Former Is The Dower Of Nature.

I... Recommend To Every One Of My Readers, The Keeping A Journal Of Their Lives For One Week, And Setting Down Punctually Their Whole Series Of Employments During That Space Of Time. This Kind Of Self-examination Would Give Them A True State Of Themselves, And Incline Them To Consider Seriously What They Are About. One Day Would Rectifie The Omissions Of Another, And Make A Man Weigh All Those Indifferent Actions, Which, Though They Are Easily Forgotten, Must Certainly Be Accounted For.

It Is Impossible For Us, Who Live In The Latter Ages Of The World, To Make Observations In Criticism, Morality, Or In Any Art Or Science, Which Have Not Been Touched Upon By Others. We Have Little Else Left Us But To Represent The Common Sense Of Mankind In More Strong, More Beautiful, Or More Uncommon Lights.

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

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

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.

Let Freedom Never Perish In Your Hands.

Admiration Is A Very Short Lived Passion That Immediately Decays Upon Growing Familiar With Its Object, Unless It Still Be Fed With Fresh Discoveries, And Kept Alive By A New Perpetual Succession Of Miracles Rising Up To Its View.

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.

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.

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

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

Beautiful Women

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.

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

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.

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

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

As Addictions Go, Reading Is Among The Cleanest, Easiest To Feed, Happiest.

Physic, For The Most Part, Is Nothing Else But The Substitute Of Exercise And Temperance.

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.

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

Nature Does Nothing Without Purpose Or Uselessly.

My Voice Is Still For War.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkward; And Merit Without Modesty, Insolent. But Modest Merit Has A Double Claim To Acceptance, And Generally Meets With As Many Patrons As Beholders.

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

Look What A Little Vain Dust We Are!

Contentment Produces, In Some Measure, All Those Effects Which The Alchemist Usually Ascribes To What He Calls The Philosopher's Stone; And If It Does Not Bring Riches, It Does The Same Thing By Banishing The Desire For Them.

It Is A Great Presumption To Ascribe Our Successes To Our Own Management, And Not To Esteem Ourselves Upon Any Blessing, Rather As It Is The Bounty Of Heaven, Than The Acquisition Of Our Own Prudence.

Among The Writers Of Antiquity There Are None Who Instruct Us More Openly In The Manners Of Their Respective Times In Which They Lived Than Those Who Have Employed Themselves In Satire, Under Whatever Dress It May Appear.

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

A Religious Hope Does Not Only Bear Up The Mind Under Her Sufferings But Makes Her Rejoice In Them.

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

Complaisance Renders A Superior Amiable, An Equal Agreeable, And An Inferior Acceptable.

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

Nothing, Says Longinus, Can Be Great, The Contempt Of Which Is Great.

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.

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

Nothing Is Capable Of Being Well Set To Music That Is Not Nonsense.

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.

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.

A Cloudy Day Or A Little Sunshine Have As Great An Influence On Many Constitutions As The Most Recent Blessings Or Misfortunes.

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

Lost Friendship

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

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.

When Men Are Easy In Their Circumstances, They Are Naturally Enemies To Innovations.

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

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

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.

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

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.

There Is No Talent So Pernicious As Eloquence To Those Who Have It Under Command.

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.

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

Jealousy Is That Pain Which A Man Feels From The Apprehension That He Is Not Equally Beloved By The Person Whom He Entirely Loves.

Sweet Are The Slumbers Of The Virtuous Man.

Faith Is Kept Alive In Us, And Gathers Strength, More From Practice Than From Speculations.

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

If Men Of Eminence Are Exposed To Censure On One Hand, They Are As Much Liable To Flattery On The Other. If They Receive Reproaches Which Are Not Due To Them, They Likewise Receive Praises Which They Do Not Deserve.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Arguments Out Of A Pretty Mouth Are Unanswerable.

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

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.

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.

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

Learning, Like Traveling And All Other Methods Of Improvement, As It Finishes Good Sense, So It Makes A Silly Man Ten Thousand Times More Insufferable By Supplying Variety Of Matter To His Impertinence, And Giving Him An Opportunity Of Abounding In Absurdities.

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.

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

A Man’s First Care Should Be To Avoid The Reproaches Of His Own Heart.

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.

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

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.

Certain Is It That There Is No Kind Of Affection So Purely Angelic As Of A Father To A Daughter. In Love To Our Wives There Is Desire; To Our Sons, Ambition, But To Our Daughters There Is Something Which There Are No Words To Express.

Mother Daughter

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

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

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.

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.

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.

It Is Pleasant To See A Notorious Profligate Seized With A Concern For Religion, And Converting His Spleen Into Zeal.

Misery And Ignorance Are Always The Cause Of Great Evils. Misery Is Easily Excited To Anger, And Ignorance Soon Yields To Perfidious Counsels.

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

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.

I Consider Time As An In Immense Ocean, In Which Many Noble Authors Are Entirely Swallowed Up.

Title And Ancestry Render A Good Man More Illustrious, But An Ill One More Contemptible.

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

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

It Is Folly To Seek The Approbation Of Any Being Besides The Supreme.

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