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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.

-Joseph Addison

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I Think A Person

Joseph Addison

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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.

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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.

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.

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

Women Were Formed To Temper Mankind, And Sooth Them Into Tenderness And Compassion; Not To Set An Edge Upon Their Minds, And Blowup In Them Those Passions Which Are Too Apt To Rise Of Their Own Accord.

The World Is So Full Of Ill-nature That I Have Lampoons Sent Me By People Who Cannot Spell, And Satires Composed By Those Who Scarce Know How To Write.

How Is It Possible For Those Who Are Men Of Honor In Their Persons, Thus To Become Notorious Liars In Their Party

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

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

Nature Does Nothing Without Purpose Or Uselessly.

Most Of The Trades, Professions, And Ways Of Living Among Mankind, Take Their Original Either From The Love Of The Pleasure, Or The Fear Of Want. The Former, When It Becomes Too Violent, Degenerates Into Luxury, And The Latter Into Avarice.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Love Is A Second Life.

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

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

The Post Of Honour Is A Private Station.

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.

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.

I Have But Nine-pence In Ready Money, But I Can Draw For A Thousand Pounds.

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.

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

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.

Amidst The Soft Variety I'm Lost.

The Head Has The Most Beautiful Appearance, As Well As The Highest Station, In A Human Figure.

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

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

By Anticipation We Sugar Misery And Enjoy Happiness Before They Are In Being. We Can Set The Sun And Stars Forward, Or Lose Sight Of Them By Wandering Into Those Retired Parts Of Eternity When The Heavens And Earth Shall Be No More.

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

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

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

Arguments Out Of A Pretty Mouth Are Unanswerable.

Cheerfulness Is The Best Promoter Of Health And Is As Friendly To The Mind As To The Body.

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

Half The Misery Of Human Life Might Be Extinguished If Men Would Alleviate The General Curse They Lie Under By Mutual Offices Of Compassion, Benevolence, And Humanity.

Why Will Any Man Be So Impertinently Officious As To Tell Me All Prospect Of A Future State Is Only Fancy And Delusion? Is There Any Merit In Being The Messenger Of Ill News. If It Is A Dream, Let Me Enjoy It, Since It Makes Me Both The Happier And Better Man.

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

The Fear Of Death Often Proves Mortal.

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

For Ever Singing As They Shine, The Hand That Made Us Is Divine.

A Vast Space Naturally Raises In My Thoughts The Idea Of An Almighty Being.

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.

It Happened Very Providentially, To The Honor Of The Christian Religion, That It Did Not Take Its Rise In The Dark Illiterate Ages Of The World, But At A Time When Arts And Sciences Were At Their Height.

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.

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

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

Health And Happiness Give Rise To Each Other.

The Talent Of Turning Men Into Ridicule, And Exposing To Laughter Those One Converses With, Is The Qualification Of Little Ungenerous Tempers.

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

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

There Is Nothing In Which Men More Deceive Themselves Than In What They Call Zeal.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

A Man Whose Extraordinary Reputation Thus Lifts Him Up To The Notice And Observation Of Mankind, Draws A Multitude Of Eyes Upon Him, That Will Narrowly Inspect Every Part Of Him.

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

The Ungrown Glories Of His Beamy Hair.

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

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

Ultimate Happiness

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

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

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

Charity Is The Perfection And Ornament Of Religion.

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

Our Disputants Put Me In Mind Of The Cuttlefish That, When He Is Unable To Extricate Himself, Blackens The Water About Him Till He Becomes Invisible.

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

Nature Delights In The Most Plain And Simple Diet.

I Never Knew A Critic Who Made It His Business To Lash The Faults Of Other Writers That Was Not Guilty Of Greater Himself--as The Hangman Is Generally A Worse Malefactor Than The Criminal That Suffers By His Hand.

A Contemplation Of God's Works, A Generous Concern For The Good Of Mankind, And The Unfeigned Exercise Of Humility Only, Denominate Men Great And Glorious.

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.

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.

Devotion, When It Does Not Lie Under The Check Of Reason, Is Apt To Degenerate Into Enthusiasm.

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.

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.

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.

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkwardness.

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.

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

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

My Heart Leaps At The Trumpet's Voice.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

When I Read The Several Dates Of The Tombs, Of Some That Died Yesterday, And Some Six Hundred Years Ago, I Consider That Great Day When We Shall All Of Us Be Contemporaries, And Make Our Appearance Together.

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.

Beauty Soon Grows Familiar To The Lover, Fades In His Eye, And Palls Upon The Sense.

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

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.

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

Wit Is The Fetching Of Congruity Out Of Incongruity.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Every Passion Gives A Particular Cast To The Countenance, And Is Apt To Discover Itself In Some Feature Or Other. I Have Seen An Eye Curse For Half An Hour Together, And An Eyebrow Call A Man A Scoundrel.

Music, Among Those Who Were Styled The Chosen People, Was A Religious Art.

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

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

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.

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

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.

There Is A Great Amity Between Designing And Art.

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

Conspiracies No Sooner Should Be Formed Than Executed.

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

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.

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.

It Must Be A Prospect Pleasing To God Himself To See His Creation Forever Beautifying In His Eyes, And Drawing Nearer Him By Greater Degrees Of Resemblance.

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

The Most Violent Appetites In All Creatures Are Lust And Hunger; The First Is A Perpetual Call Upon Them To Propagate Their Kind, The Latter To Preserve Themselves.

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.

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.

A Contented Mind Is The Greatest Blessing A Man Can Enjoy In This World; And If In The Present Life His Happiness Arises From The Subduing Of His Desires, It Will Arise In The Next From The Gratification Of Them.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

I Should Think Myself A Very Bad Woman, If I Had Done What I Do For A Farthing Less.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

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

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.

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.

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

A Statue Lies Hid In A Block Of Marble, And The Art Of The Statuary Only Clears Away The Superfluous Matter And Removes The Rubbish. The Figure Is In The Stone; The Sculptor Only Finds It. What Sculpture Is To A Block Of Marble, Education Is To A Human Soul. The Philosopher, The Saint, Or The Hero,--the Wise, The Good, Or The Great Man,--very Often Lies Hid And Concealed In A Plebeian, Which A Proper Education Might Have Disinterred, And Have Brought To Light.

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.

Look What A Little Vain Dust We Are!

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.

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

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

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.

In All Thy Humours, Whether Grave Or Mellow, Thou'rt Such A Touchy, Testy, Pleasant Fellow, Hast So Much Wit And Mirth And Spleen About Thee, There Is No Living With Thee, Nor Without Thee.

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

It Is Folly For An Eminent Man To Think Of Escaping Censure, And A Weakness To Be Affected With It. All The Illustrious Persons Of Antiquity, And Indeed Of Every Age In The World, Have Passed Through This Fiery Persecution.

A Just And Reasonable Modesty Does Not Only Recommend Eloquence, But Sets Off Every Great Talent Which A Man Can Be Possessed Of.

Encourage Innocent Amusement.

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.

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.

Is There Not Some Chosen Curse, Some Hidden Thunder In The Stores Of Heaven, Red With Uncommon Wrath, To Blast The Man Who Owes His Greatness To His Country's Ruin!

If Ridicule Were Employed To Laugh Men Out Of Vice And Folly, It Might Be Of Some Use.

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

Rides In The Whirlwind And Directs The Storm.

Courage Is The Thing. All Goes If Courage Goes.

Should The Whole Frame Of Nature Round Him Break, In Ruin And Confusion Hurled, He, Unconcerned, Would Hear The Mighty Crack, And Stand Secure Amidst A Falling World.

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

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

It Is Ridiculous For Any Man To Criticize On The Works Of Another, Who Has Not Distinguished Himself By His Own Performances.

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.

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

Lost Friendship

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.

A Source Of Cheerfulness To A Good Mind Is The Consideration Of That Being On Whom We Have Our Dependence, And In Whom, Though We Behold Him As Yet But In The First Faint Discoveries Of His Perfections, We See Everything That We Can Imagine As Great Glorious, Or Amiable. We Find Ourselves Everywhere Upheld By His Goodness And Surrounded By An Immensity Of Love And Mercy.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Beautiful Women

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 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.

Knavery Is Ever Suspicious Of Knavery.

That Courage Which Arises 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.

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

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.

There Is A Kind Of Grandeur And Respect Which The Meanest And Most Insignificant Part Of Mankind Endeavor To Procure In The Little Circle Of Their Friends And Acquaintance. The Poorest Mechanic, Nay, The Man Who Lives Upon Common Alms, Gets Him His Set Of Admirers, And Delights In That Superiority Which He Enjoys Over Those Who Are In Some Respects Beneath Him. This Ambition, Which Is Natural To The Soul Of Man, Might, Methinks, Receive A Very Happy Turn; And, If It Were Rightly Directed, Contribute As Much To A Person's Advantage, As It Generally Does To His Uneasiness And Disquiet.

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

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

To This End, Nothing Is To Be More Carefully Consulted Than Plainness. In A Lady's Attire This Is The Single Excellence; For To Be What Some People Call Fine, Is The Same Vice, In That Case, As To Be Florid Is In Writing Or Speaking.

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

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.

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.

The Unassuming Youth Seeking Instruction With Humility Gains Good Fortune.

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