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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.

-Joseph Addison

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It Happened Very Providentially,

Joseph Addison

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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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

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

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.

Encourage Innocent Amusement.

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

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

Generous Spirit

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.

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

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.

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.

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Everything That Is New Or Uncommon Raises A Pleasure In The Imagination, Because It Fills The Soul With An Agreeable Surprise, Gratifies Its Curiosity, And Gives It An Idea Of Which It Was Not Before Possessed.

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

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

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

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

Friendship Love

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

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.

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 Look Upon The Soul As Going On From Strength To Strength, To Consider That She Is To Shine Forever With New Accessions Of Glory, And Brighten To All Eternity; That She Will Be Still Adding Virtue To Virtue, And Knowledge To Knowledge,--carries In It Something Wonderfully Agreeable To That Ambition Which Is Natural To The Mind Of Man.

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.

Of All The Diversions Of Life, There Is None So Proper To Fill Up Its Empty Spaces As The Reading Of Useful And Entertaining Authors.

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

A Man Should Always Consider How Much He Has More Than He Wants.

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

I Value My Garden More For Being Full Of Blackbirds Than Of Cherries, And Very Frankly Give Them Fruit For Their Songs.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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?

There Are A Sort Of Knight-errants In The World, Who, Quite Contrary To Those In Romance, Are Perpetually Seeking Adventures To Bring Virgins Into Distress, And To Ruin Innocence. When Men Of Rank And Figure Pass Away Their Lives In These Criminal Pursuits And Practices, They Ought To Consider That They Render Themselves More Vile And Despicable Than Any Innocent Man Can Be, Whatever Low Station His Fortune Or Birth Have Placed Him In.

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

Blesses His Stars And Thinks It Luxury.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

There Is Nothing That More Betrays A Base Ungenerous Spirit Than The Giving Of Secret Stabs To A Man's Reputation. Lampoons And Satires That Are Written With Wit And Spirit Are Like Poisoned Darts, Which Not Only Inflict A Wound, But Make It Incurable.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Were I To Prescribe A Rule For Drinking, It Should Be Formed Upon A Saying Quoted By Sir William Temple: The First Glass For Myself, The Second For My Friends, The Third For Good Humor, And The Fourth For Mine Enemies.

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.

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.

See In What Peace A Christian Can Die.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

The Sense Of Honour Is Of So Fine And Delicate A Nature, That It Is Only To Be Met With In Minds Which Are Naturally Noble, Or In Such As Have Been Cultivated By Good Examples, Or A Refined Education.

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.

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

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

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

Rides In The Whirlwind And Directs The Storm.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

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

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

Courage Is The Thing. All Goes If Courage Goes.

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

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.

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.

Laughter, While It Lasts, Slackens And Unbraces The Mind, Weakens The Faculties, And Causes A Kind Of Remissness And Dissolution In All The Powers Of The Soul.

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

Our Admiration Of A Famous Man Lessens Upon Our Nearer Acquaintance With Him; And We Seldom Hear Of A Celebrated Person Without A Catalogue Of Some Notorious Weaknesses And Infirmities.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

The Fear Of Death Often Proves Mortal.

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.

The Fashionable World Is Grown Free And Easie; Our Manners Sit More Loose Upon Us: Nothing Is So Modish As An Agreeable Negligence. In A Word, Good Breeding Shows It Self Most, Where To An Ordinary Eye It Appears The Least.

The Only Way Therefore To Try A Piece Of Wit, Is To Translate It Into A Different Language: If It Bears The Test You May Pronounceit True; But If It Vanishes In The Experiment You May Conclude It To Have Been A Punn.

It Is Observed By Cicero, That Men Of The Greatest And Most Shining Parts Are Most Actuated By Ambition.

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.

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.'

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

All Of Heaven We Have Below.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkwardness.

Sweet Are The Slumbers Of The Virtuous Man.

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

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

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.

Riches Are Apt To Betray A Man Into Arrogance.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Nothing Makes Men Sharper Than Want.

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.

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!

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

Admiration And Respect

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The Man Who Lives By Hope, Will Die By Hunger.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

The Utmost We Can Hope For In This World Is Contentment; If We Aim At Anything Higher, We Shall Meet With Nothing But Grief And Disappointment. A Man Should Direct All His Studies And Endeavors At Making Himself Easy Now And Happy Hereafter.

Who Rant By Note, And Through The Gamut Rage; In Songs And Airs Express Their Martial Fire; Combat In Trills, And In A Fugue Expire.

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

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.

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

Arguments Out Of A Pretty Mouth Are Unanswerable.

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

Cleanliness May Be Defined To Be The Emblem Of Purity Of Mind.

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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Nikos Kazantzakis

Henry Steele Commager

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