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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?

-Joseph Addison

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It Is Very Wonderful

Joseph Addison

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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?

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

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

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

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

The Post Of Honour Is A Private Station.

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

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

Reading Is To The Mind What Exercise Is To The Body.

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.

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.

An Honest Private Man Often Grows Cruel And Abandoned When Converted Into An Absolute Prince. Give A Man Power Of Doing What He Pleases With Impunity, You Extinguish His Fear, And Consequently Overturn In Him One Of The Great Pillars Of Morality.

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

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

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

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

True Happiness Arises, In The First Place, From The Enjoyment Of One's Self, And In The Next, From The Friendship And Conversation Of A Few Select Companions.

When 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.

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

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

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.

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

There Is A Great Amity Between Designing And Art.

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

There Is Not Any Present Moment That Is Unconnected With Some Future One. The Life Of Every Man Is A Continued Chain Of Incidents, Each Link Of Which Hangs Upon The Former.

Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

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.

Their Is No Defense Against Criticism Except Obscurity.

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.

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

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.

'tis Liberty That Crowns Britannia's Isle, And Makes Her Barren Rocks And Her Bleak Mountains Smile... 'tis Britain's Care To Watch O'er Europe's Fate, And Hold In Balance Each Contending State, To Threaten Bold Presumptuous Kings With War, And Answer Her Afflicted Neighbours' Prayer... Soon As Her Fleets Appear Their Terrors Cease.

Whether Zeal Or Moderation Be The Point We Aim At, Let Us Keep Fire Out Of The One, And Frost Out Of The Other.

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

Friendship Love

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.

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 Which Strengthens Faith More Than The Observance Of Morality.

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

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

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

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.

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

It Is Odd To Consider The Connection Between Despotism And Barbarity, And How The Making One Person More Than Man Makes The Rest Less.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

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

The Greatest Sweetener Of Human Life Is Friendship.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

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

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.

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

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 Time Never Lies Heavy Upon Him; It Is Impossible For Him To Be Alone.

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 More Of Turn Than Of Truth In A Saying Of Seneca, "that Drunkenness Does Not Produce But Discover Faults." Common Experience Teaches The Contrary. Wine Throws A Man Out Of Himself, And Infuses Dualities Into The Mind Which She Is A Stranger To In Her Sober Moments.

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

There Is Not Any Present Moment That Is Unconnected With Some Future One. The Life Of Every Man Is A Continued Chain Of Incidents, Each Link Of Which Hangs Upon The Former. The Transition From Cause To Effect, From Event To Event, Is Often Carried On By Secret Steps, Which Our Foresight Cannot Divine, And Our Sagacity Is Unable To Trace. Evil May At Some Future Period Bring Forth Good; And Good May Bring Forth Evil, Both Equally Unexpected.

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

A Perfect Tragedy Is The Noblest Production Of Human Nature.

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

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

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.

Nature Does Nothing Without Purpose Or Uselessly.

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

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.

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

A Jealous Man Is Very Quick In His Application: He Knows How To Find A Double Edge In An Invective, And To Draw A Satire On Himself Out Of A Panegyrick On Another.

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

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

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

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

There Is Something Very Sublime, Though Very Fanciful, In Plato's Description Of The Supreme Being,--that Truth Is His Body And Light His Shadow. According To This Definition There Is Nothing So Contradictory To His Nature As Error And Falsehood.

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.

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

Ultimate Happiness

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

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 Statue Lies Hid In A Block Of Marble; And The Art Of The Statuary Only Clears Away The Superfluous Matter, And Removes The Rubbish.

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

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

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

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

Wit Is The Fetching Of Congruity Out Of Incongruity.

The Peacock In All His Pride Does Not Display Half The Colors That Appear In The Garments Of A British Lady When She Is Dressed.

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.

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.

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

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Mirth Is Like A Flash Of Lightning, That Breaks Through A Gloom Of Clouds, And Glitters For A Moment; Cheerfulness Keeps Up A Kind Of Daylight In The Mind, And Fills It With A Steady And Perpetual Serenity.

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

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

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

I'm Weary Of Conjectures, - This Must End 'em. Thus Am I Doubly Armed: My Death And Life, My Bane And Antidote, Are Both Before Me: This In A Moment Brings Me To An End; But This Informs Me I Shall Never Die. The Soul, Secured In Her Existence, Smiles At The Drawn Dagger, And Defies Its Point. The Stars Shall Fade Away, The Sun Himself Grow Dim With Age, And Nature Sink In Years; But Thou Shalt Flourish In Immortal Youth, Unhurt Amidst The War Of Elements, The Wrecks Of Matter, And The Crush Of Worlds.

Female Virtues Are Of A Domestick Turn. The Family Is The Proper Province For Private Women To Shine In. If They Must Be Showing Their Zeal For The Publick, Let It Not Be Against Those Who Are Perhaps Of The Same Family, Or At Least Of The Same Religion Or Nation, But Against Those Who Are The Open, Professed, Undoubted Enemies Of Their Faith, Liberty, And Country.

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.

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

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

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

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkwardness.

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.

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

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

The Unassuming Youth Seeking Instruction With Humility Gains Good Fortune.

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

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.

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

Oh! Think What Anxious Moments Pass Between The Birth Of Plots, And Their Last Fatal Periods, Oh! 'tis A Dreadful Interval Of Time, Filled Up With Horror All, And Big With Death!

It Must Be So, Plato, Thou Reason'st Well!

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.

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

Generous Spirit

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

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.

Round-heads And Wooden-shoes Are Standing Jokes.

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

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

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.

See In What Peace A Christian Can Die.

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.

Men May Change Their Climate, But They Cannot Change Their Nature. A Man That Goes Out A Fool Cannot Ride Or Sail Himself Into Common Sense.

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

It Must Be So,-plato, Thou Reasonest Well! Else Whence This Pleasing Hope, This Fond Desire, This Longing After Immortality? Or Whence This Secret Dread And Inward Horror Of Falling Into Naught? Why Shrinks The Soul Back On Herself, And Startles At Destruction? 't Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us; 't Is Heaven Itself That Points Out An Hereafter, And Intimates Eternity To Man. Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

It Is A Melancholy Consideration That There Should Be Several Among Us So Hardened And Deluded As To Think An Oath A Proper Subject For A Jest; And To Make This, Which Is One Of The Most Solemn Acts Of Religion, An Occasion Of Mirth. Yet Such Is The Depravation Of Our Manners At Present, That Nothing Is More Frequent Than To Hear Profligate Men Ridiculing, To The Best Of Their Abilities, These Sacred Pledges Of Their Duty And Allegiance; And Endeavouring To Be Witty Upon Themselves, For Daring To Prevaricate With God And Man.

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

Plutarch Has Written An Essay On The Benefits Which A Man May Receive From His Enemies; And Among The Good Fruits Of Enmity, Mentions This In Particular, That By The Reproaches Which It Casts Upon Us, We See The Worst Side Of Ourselves.

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

Waning Moons Their Settled Periods Keep, To Swell The Billows And Ferment The Deep.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Courage That Grows From Constitution Often Forsakes A Man When He Has Occasion For It; Courage Which Arises From A Sense Of Duty Acts; In A Uniform Manner.

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.

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

Arguments Out Of A Pretty Mouth Are Unanswerable.

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.

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

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.

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

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 End Of A Man's Life Is Often Compared To The Winding Up Of A Well Written Play, Where The Principal Persons Still Act In Character, Whatever The Fate In Which They Undergo.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Honor's A Fine Imaginary Notion, That Draws In Raw And Unexperienced Men To Real Mischiefs.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

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.

Simonides, A Poet Famous In His Generation, Is, I Think, Author Of The Oldest Satire That Is Now Extant, And, As Some Say, Of The First That Was Ever Written.

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Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Vladimir Nabokov

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