Background Image

...

The Man Who Will Live Above His Present Circumstances, Is In Great Danger Of Soon Living Beneath Them; Or As The Italian Proverb Says, "the Man That Lives By Hope, Will Die By Despair.

-Joseph Addison

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The Man Who Will

Joseph Addison

...

The Man Who Will Live Above His Present Circumstances, Is In Great Danger Of Soon Living Beneath Them; Or As The Italian Proverb Says, "the Man That Lives By Hope, Will Die By Despair.

Views: 61811

Topic

More From Joseph Addison

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

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.

From Social Intercourse Are Derived Some Of The Highest Enjoyments Of Life; Where There Is A Free Interchange Of Sentiments The Mind Acquires New Ideas, And By Frequent Exercise Of Its Powers, The Understanding Gains Fresh Vigor.

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.

There Is No Society Or Conversation To Be Kept Up In The World Without Good-nature, Or Something Which Must Bear Its Appearance And Supply Its Place. For This Reason Mankind Have Been Forced To Invent A Kind Of Artificial Humanity, Which Is What We Express By The Word Good-breeding.

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

Tis Heaven Itself, That Points Out An Hereafter, And Intimates Eternity To Man.

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

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.

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

Generous Spirit

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

A Man With Great Talents, But Void Of Discretion, Is Like Polyphemus In The Fable, Strong And Blind, Endued With An Irresistible Force, Which For Want Of Sight Is Of No Use To Him.

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

Riches Expose A Man To Pride And Luxury, And A Foolish Elation Of Heart.

The Person Who Has A Firm Trust In The Supreme Being Is Powerful In His Power, Wise By His Wisdom, Happy By His Happiness.

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.

The Voice Of Reason Is More To Be Regarded Than The Bent Of Any Present Inclination; Since Inclination Will At Length Come Over To Reason, Though We Can Never Force Reason To Comply With Inclination.

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.

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.

Hunting Is Not A Proper Employment For A Thinking Man.

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

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

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.

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

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.'

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Content Thyself To Be Obscurely Good.

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

The Dawn Is Overcast, The Morning Lowers, And Heavily In Clouds Brings On The Day, The Great, The Important Day, Big With The Fate Of Cato And Of Rome.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Courage Is The Thing. All Goes If Courage Goes.

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.

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.

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

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

Education Is A Companion Which No Misfortune Can Depress, No Crime Can Destroy, No Enemy Can Alienate, No Despotism Can Enslave. At Home, A Friend, Abroad, An Introduction, In Solitude A Solace And In Society An Ornament. It Chastens Vice, It Guides Virtue, It Gives At Once Grace And Government To Genius. Without It, What Is Man? A Splendid Slave, A Reasoning Savage.

If You Wish To Succeed In Life, Make Perseverance Your Bosom Friend, Experience Your Wise Counselor, Caution Your Elder Brother, And Hope Your Guardian Genius.

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.

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.

What Sculpture Is To A Block Of Marble, Education Is To The Human Soul.

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

It Is The Privilege Of Posterity To Set Matters Right Between Those Antagonists Who, By Their Rivalry For Greatness, Divided A Whole Age.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Look What A Little Vain Dust We Are!

My Heart Leaps At The Trumpet's Voice.

Conspiracies No Sooner Should Be Formed Than Executed.

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

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

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

True Religion And Virtue Give A Cheerful And Happy Turn To The Mind, Admit Of All True Pleasures, And Even Procure For Us The Highest.

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.

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

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

We Are Always Doing Something For Posterity, But I Would Fain See Posterity Do Something For Us.

I Would Fain Ask One Of These Bigotted Infidels, Supposing All The Great Points Of Atheism... Were Laid Together And Formed Into A Kind Of Creed, According To The Opinions Of The Most Celebrated Atheists; I Say, Supposing Such A Creed As This Were Formed, And Imposed Upon Any One People In The World, Whether It Would Not Require An Infinitely Greater Measure Of Faith, Than Any Set Of Articles Which They So Violently Oppose.

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

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

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.

Is It Not Wonderful, That The Love Of The Parent Should Be So Violent While It Lasts And That It Should Last No Longer Than Is Necessary For The Preservation Of The Young?

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

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

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.

In The Common Run Of Mankind, For One That Is Wise And Good You Find Ten Of A Contrary Character.

Sunday Clears Away The Rust Of The Whole Week.

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

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.

Man Is The Merriest Species Of The Creation; All Above Or Below Him Are Serious.

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

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

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.

Why, A Spirit Is Such A Little, Little Thing, That I Have Heard Man, Who Was A Great Scholar, Say That He'll Dance Ye A Hornpipe Upon The Point Of A Needle.

There Is Noting Truly Valuable Which Can Be Purchased Without Pains And Labor. The Gods Have Set A Price Upon Every Real And Noble Pleasure.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

E'en The Rough Rocks With Tender Myrtle Bloom, And Trodden Weeds Send Out A Rich Perfume.

Blesses His Stars And Thinks It Luxury.

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.

Men Of Warm Imaginations And Towering Thoughts Are Apt To Overlook The Goods Of Fortune Which Are Near Them, For Something That Glitters In The Sight At A Distance; To Neglect Solid And Substantial Happiness For What Is Showy And Superficial; And To Contemn That Good Which Lies Within Their Reach, For That Which They Are Not Capable Of Attaining. Hope Calculates Its Schemes For A Long And Durable Life; Presses Forward To Imaginary Points Of Bliss; Grasps At Impossibilities; And Consequently Very Often Ensnares Men Into Beggary, Ruin, And Dishonour.

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.

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.

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.

Virtue Which Shuns, The Day.

There Is Nothing More Requisite In Business Than Despatch.

Decision Making

Words, When Well Chosen, Have So Great A Force In Them, That A Description Often Gives Us More Lively Ideas Than The Sight Of Things Themselves.

This Not In Mortals To Command Success, But We'll Do More, Sempronius, We'll Deserve It.

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

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

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 Perfect Tragedy Is The Noblest Production Of Human Nature.

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

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

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.

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.

There Are Greater Depths And Obscurities, Greater Intricacies And Perplexities, In An Elaborate And Well-written Piece Of Nonsense, Than In The Most Abstruse And Profound Tract Of School Divinity.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Troops Of Heroes Undistinguished Die.

A Person May Be Qualified To Do Greater Good To Mankind And Become More Beneficial To The World, By Morality Without Faith Than By Faith Without Morality.

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.

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

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

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

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

There Is 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.

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.

It Is Not The Business Of Virtue To Extirpate The Affections Of The Mind, But To Regulate Them.

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

Riches Are Apt To Betray A Man Into Arrogance.

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

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

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

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.

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

A Man Who Has Any Relish For Fine Writing Either Discovers New Beauties Or Receives Stronger Impressions From The Masterly Strokes Of A Great Author Every Time He Peruses Him; Besides That He Naturally Wears Himself Into The Same Manner Of Speaking And Thinking.

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

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.

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

When I Behold A Fashionable Table Set Out In All Its Magnificence, I Fancy That I See Gouts And Dropsies, Fevers And Lethargies, With Other Innumerable Distempers Lying In Ambuscade Among The Dishes. Nature Delights In The Most Plain And Simple Diet. Every Animal But Man Keeps To One Dish. Herbs Are The Food Of This Species, Fish Of That, And Flesh Of A Third. Man Falls Upon Everything That Comes In His Way; Not The Smallest Fruit Or Excrescence Of The Earth, Scarce A Berry Or A Mushroom Can Escape Him.

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

If We May Believe Our Logicians, Man Is Distinguished From All Other Creatures By The Faculty Of Laughter. He Has A Heart Capable Of Mirth, And Naturally Disposed To It.

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

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

No Man Writes A Book Without Meaning Something, Though He May Not Have The Faculty Of Writing Consequentially And Expressing His Meaning.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

Encourage Innocent Amusement.

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

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

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.

No Oppression Is So Heavy Or Lasting As That Which Is Inflicted By The Perversion And Exorbitance Of Legal Authority.

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

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.

I Think I May Define Taste To Be That Faculty Of The Soul Which Discerns The Beauties Of An Author With Pleasure, And The Imperfections With Dislike.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Government Mitigates The Inequality Of Power, And Makes An Innocent Man, Though Of The Lowest Rank, A Match For The Mightiest Of His Fellow-subjects.

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.

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.

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

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

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 Great Large Book Is A Great Evil.

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

In Rising Sighs And Falling Tears.

A Money-lender--he Serves You In The Present Tense; He Lends You In The Conditional Mood; Keeps You In The Conjunctive; And Ruins You In The Future.

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.

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

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.

To Be Exempt From The Passions With Which Others Are Tormented, Is The Only Pleasing Solitude.

Pleasing Others

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 Woman That Deliberates Is Lost.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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

Trending Author

William Ellery Channing

Category