Background Image

...

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.

-Joseph Addison

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The Hours Of A

Joseph Addison

...

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.

Views: 59430

Topic

More From Joseph Addison

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

Mere Bashfulness Without Merit Is Awkwardness.

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.

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.

The Most Exquisite Words And Finest Strokes Of An Author Are Those Which Very Often Appear The Most Doubtful And Exceptionable To A Man Who Wants A Relish For Polite Learning; And They Are Those Which A Sour Undistinguishing Critic Generally Attacks With The Greatest Violence.

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

Friendship Love

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

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.

With What Astonishment And Veneration May We Look Into Our Own Souls, Where There Are Such Hidden Stores Of Virtue And Knowledge, Such Inexhaustible Sources Of Perfection. We Know Not Yet What We Shall Be, Nor Will It Ever Enter Into The Heart To Conceive The Glory That Will Be Always In Reserve For It.

The Greatest Parts, Without Discretion As Observed By An Elegant Writer, May Be Fatal To Their Owner; As Polyphemus, Deprived Of His Eyes, Was Only The More Exposed On Account Of His Enormous Strength And Stature.

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.

When I Read The Rules Of Criticism, I Immediately Inquire After The Works Of The Author Who Has Written Them, And By That Means Discover What It Is He Likes In A Composition.

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.

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

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

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

The Friendships Of The World Are Oft Confederacies In Vice, Or Leagues Of Pleasures.

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.

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.

Reading Is To The Mind, What Exercise Is To The Body. As By The One, Health Is Preserved, Strengthened, And Invigorated: By The Other, Virtue (which Is The Health Of The Mind) Is Kept Alive, Cherished, And Confirmed.

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?

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

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

Lost Friendship

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

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.

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.

A Great Large Book Is A Great Evil.

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

If Gratitude, When Exerted Towards Another, Naturally Produces A Very Pleasing Sensation In The Mind Of A Grateful Man, It Exalts The Soul Into Rapture When It Is Employed On This Great Object Of Gratitude To The Beneficent Being Who Has Given Us Everything We Already Possess, And From Whom We Expect Everything We Yet Hope For.

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.

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

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

The Passion For Praise, Which Is So Very Vehement In The Fair Sex, Produces Excellent Effects In Women Of Sense, Who Desire To Be Admired For That Which Only Deserves Admiration.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Music, The Greatest Good That Mortals Know, And All Of Heaven We Have Below. Music Can Noble Hints Impart, Engender Fury, Kindle Love; 40 With Unsuspected Eloquence Can Move, And Manage All The Man With Secret Art. When Orpheus Strikes The Trembling Lyre The Streams Stand Still, The Stones Admire; The Listening Savages Advance, The World And Lamb Around Him Trip The Bears In Aukward Measures Leap, And Tigers Mingle In The Dance The Moving Woods Attended As He Played And Rhodope Was Left Without A Shade.

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.

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.

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.

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

What An Absurd Thing It Is To Pass Over All The Valuable Parts Of A Man, And Fix Our Attention On His Infirmities.

The Productions Of A Great Genius, With Many Lapses And Inadvertences, Are Infinitely Preferable To The Works Of An Inferior Kind Of Author Which Are Scrupulously Exact, And Conformable To All The Rules Of Correct Writing.

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.

I Have Always Preferred Cheerfulness To Mirth. The Latter I Consider As An Act, The Former As A Habit Of Mind. Mirth Is Short And Transient, Cheerfulness Fixed And Permanent.

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.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

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

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

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 Discreet Man Finds Out The Talents Of Those He Converses With, And Knows How To Apply Them To Proper Uses. Accordingly, If We Look Into Particular Communities And Divisions Of Men, We May Observe That It Is The Discreet Man, Not The Witty, Nor The Learned, Nor The Brave, Who Guides The Conversation, And Gives Measures To The Society.

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.

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

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

There Is Not On Earth A Spectacle More Worthy The Regard Of A Creator Intent On His Works, Than A Brave Man Superior To His Sufferings.

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

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

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.

I Believe That Everyone, Some Time Or Other, Dreams That He Is Reading Papers, Books, Or Letters; In Which Case The Invention Prompts So Readily That The Mind Is Imposed Upon, And Mistakes Its Own Suggestions For The Composition Of Another.

Artificial Intelligence Will Never Be A Match For Natural Stupidity.

Two Persons Who Have Chosen Each Other Out Of All The Species With A Design To Be Each Other's Mutual Comfort And Entertainment Have, In That Action, Bound Themselves To Be Good-humored, Affable, Discreet, Forgiving, Patient, And Joyful, With Respect To Each Other's Frailties And Perfections, To The End Of Their Lives.

The 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.

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

Encourage Innocent Amusement.

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.

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.

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

Antidotes Are What You Take To Prevent Dotes.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Justice Is That Which Is Practiced By God Himself, And To Be Practiced In Its Perfection By None But Him. Omniscience And Omnipotence Are Requisite For The Full Exertion Of It.

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

Nothing Makes A Woman More Esteemed By The Opposite Sex Than Chastity; Whether It Be That We Always Prize Those Most Who Are Hardest To Come At, Or That Nothing Besides Chastity, With Its Collateral Attendants, Truth, Fidelity, And Constancy, Gives A Man A Property In The Person He Loves, And Consequently Endears Her To Him Above All Things.

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

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.

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.

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.

Adulterers, In The First Stages Of The Church, Were Excommunicated Forever, And Unqualified All Their Lives For Bearing A Part In Christian Assemblies, Notwithstanding They Might Seek It With Tears, And All The Appearances Of The Most Unfeigned Repentance.

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.

Jesters Do Often Prove Prophets.

Health And Happiness Give Rise To Each Other.

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

The Union Of The Word And The Mind Produces That Mystery Which Is Called Life... Learn Deeply Of The Mind And Its Mystery, For Therein Lies The Secret Of Immortality.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

A Man's First Care Should Be To Avoid The Reproaches Of His Own Heart; His Next, To Escape The Censures Of The World: If The Last Interferes With The Former, It Ought To Be Entirely Neglected; But Otherwise There Cannot Be A Greater Satisfaction To An Honest Mind, Than To See Those Approbations Which It Gives Itself Seconded By The Applauses Of The Public.

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

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

Our Delight In Any Particular Study, Art, Or Science Rises And Improves In Proportion To The Application Which We Bestow Upon It. Thus, What Was At First An Exercise Becomes At Length An Entertainment.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Not A More Unhappy Being Than A Superannuated Idol.

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.

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

All Well-regulated Families Set Apart An Hour Every Morning For Tea And Bread And Butter

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!

Nature Delights In The Most Plain And Simple Diet.

A Contented Mind Is The Greatest Blessing A Man Can Enjoy In This World.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Mankind Are More Indebted To Industry Than Ingenuity; The Gods Set Up Their Favors At A Price, And Industry Is The Purchaser.

I Have Often Wondered That Learning Is Not Thought A Proper Ingredient In The Education Of A Woman Of Quality Or Fortune. Since They Have The Same Improvable Minds As The Male Part Of Their Species.

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

Conspiracies No Sooner Should Be Formed Than Executed.

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.

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

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.

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

Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

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

Love, Anger, Pride And Avarice All Visibly Move In Those Little Orbs.

The Greatest Sweetener Of Human Life Is Friendship.

Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

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

The Consciousness Of Being Loved Softens The Keenest Pang Even At The Moment Of Parting; Yea, Even The Eternal Farewell Is Robbed Of Half Of Its Bitterness When Uttered In Accents That Breathe Love To The Last Sigh.

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.

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

How Can It Enter Into The Thoughts Of Man, That The Soul, Which Is Capable Of Such Immense Perfections, And Of Receiving New Improvements To All Eternity, Shall Fall Away Into Nothing Almost As Soon As It Is Created?

In The Founders Of Great Families, Titles Or Attributes Of Honor Are Generally Correspondent With The Virtues Of The Person To Whom They Are Applied; But In Their Descendants They Are Too Often The Marks Rather Of Grandeur Than Of Merit. The Stamp And Denomination Still Continue, But The Intrinsic Value Is Frequently Lost.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Wine Heightens Indifference Into Love, Love Into Jealousy, And Jealousy Into Madness. It Often Turns The Good-natured Man Into An Idiot, And The Choleric Into An Assassin. It Gives Bitterness To Resentment, It Makes Vanity Insupportable, And Displays Every Little Spot Of The Soul In Its Utmost Deformity.

Marriage Enlarges The Scene Of Our Happiness And Miseries.

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

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

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

It Has Been Said In Praise Of Some Men, That They Could Take Whole Hours Together Upon Anything; But It Must Be Owned To The Honor Of The Other Sex That There Are Many Among Them Who Can Talk Whole Hours Together Upon Nothing. I Have Known A Woman Branch Out Into A Long Extempore Dissertation On The Edging Of A Petticoat, And Chide Her Servant For Breaking A China Cup, In All The Figures Of Rhetoric.

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

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

Ultimate Happiness

A Wealthy Doctor Who Can Help A Poor Man, And Will Not Without A Fee, Has Less Sense Of Humanity Than A Poor Ruffian, Who Kills A Rich Man To Supply His Necessities.

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

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

The Woman That Deliberates Is Lost.

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.

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.

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.

The Soul, Considered With Its Creator, Is Like One Of Those Mathematical Lines That May Draw Nearer To Another For All Eternity Without A Possibility Of Touching It; And Can There Be A Thought So Transporting As To Consider Ourselves In These Perpetual Approaches To Him, Who Is Not Only The Standard Of Perfection, But Of Happiness?

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

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.

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

Upon Laying A Weight In One Of The Scales, Inscribed Eternity, Though I Threw In That Of Time, Prosperity, Affliction, Wealth, And Poverty, Which Seemed Very Ponderous, They Were Not Able To Stir The Opposite Balance.

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

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

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

A Few Persons Of An Odious And Despised Country Could Not Have Filled The World With Believers, Had They Not Shown Undoubted Credentials From The Divine Person Who Sent Them On Such A Message.

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

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

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.

A Perfect Tragedy Is The Noblest Production Of Human Nature.

Health And Cheerfulness Naturally Beget Each Other.

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.

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

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

If Men Would Consider Not So Much Wherein They Differ, As Wherein They Agree, There Would Be Far Less Of Uncharitableness And Angry Feeling In The World.

You Make Me Happy

There Is No Virtue So Truly Great And Godlike As Justice.

Trending Author

Bernard Meltzer

Benedict Cumberbatch

James C. Collins

Mary Lou Retton

Category