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

-Joseph Addison

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Why Will Any Man

Joseph Addison

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

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Most Of Our Fellow-subjects Are Guided Either By The Prejudice Of Education Or By A Deference To The Judgment Of Those Who Perhaps In Their Own Hearts Disapprove The Opinions Which They Industriously Spread Among The Multitude.

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

T Is The Divinity That Stirs Within Us.

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 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.

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.

Rides In The Whirlwind And Directs The Storm.

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

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.

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 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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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

Artificial Intelligence Will Never Be A Match For Natural Stupidity.

Nature In Her Whole Drama Never Drew Such A Part; She Has Sometimes Made A Fool, But A Coxcomb Is Always Of A Man's Own Making.

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.

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

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

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

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

Nature Is Full Of Wonders; Every Atom Is A Standing Miracle, And Endowed With Such Qualities, As Could Not Be Impressed On It By A Power And Wisdom Less Than Infinite.

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.

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.

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

I Think A Person Who Is Thus Terrified With The Imagination Of Ghosts And Spectres Much More Reasonable, Than One Who Contrary To The Reports Of All Historians Sacred And Profane, Ancient And Modern, And To The Traditions Of All Nations, Thinks The Appearance Of Spirits Fabulous And Groundless.

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.

There Is Not A More Unhappy Being Than A Superannuated Idol.

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?

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

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

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.

We See No Where The Pernicious Effects Of Luxury On A Republic More Than In That Of The Ancient Romans, Who Immediately Found Itself Poor As Soon As This Vice Got Footing Among Them, Though They Were Possessed Of All The Riches In The World.

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.

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

My Voice Is Still For War.

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.

The Moral Virtues, Without Religion Are But Cold, Lifeless, And Insipid; It Is Only Religion Which Opens The Mind To Great Conceptions, Fills It With The Most Sublime Ideas, And Warms The Soul With More Than Sensual Pleasures.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

A Man Improves More By Reading The Story Of A Person Eminent For Prudence And Virtue, Than By The Finest Rules And Precepts Of Morality.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 Is More Gratifying To The Mind Of Man Than Power Or Dominion.

See In What Peace A Christian Can Die.

Talking With A Friend Is Nothing Else But Thinking Aloud.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Health And Cheerfulness Naturally Beget Each Other.

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.

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.

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

A Good Conscience Is To The Soul What Health Is To The Body; It Preserves Constant Ease And Serenity Within Us; And More Than Countervails All The Calamities And Afflictions Which Can Befall Us From Without.

Antidotes Are What You Take To Prevent Dotes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

An 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.

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

There Is A Great Amity Between Designing And Art.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Upon Excellencies Rather Than Imperfections, To Discover The Concealed Beauties Of A Writer, And Communicate To The World Such Things As Are Worth Their Observation.

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

Musick Is Certainly A Very Agreeable Entertainment, But If It Would Take The Entire Possession Of Our Ears, If It Would Make Us Incapable Of Hearing Sense, If It Would Exclude Arts That Have A Much Greater Tendency To The Refinement Of Human Nature; I Must Confess I Would Allow It No Better Quarter Than Plato Has Done, Who Banishes It Out Of His Common-wealth.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Admiration And Respect

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.

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.

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

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.

When Love's Well-timed 'tis Not A Fault To Love; The Strong, The Brave, The Virtuous, And The Wise, Sink In The Soft Captivity Together.

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.

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

My Heart Leaps At The Trumpet's Voice.

Silence Is Sometimes More Significant And Sublime Than The Most Noble And Most Expressive Eloquence, And Is On Many Occasions The Indication Of A Great Mind.

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.

Colors Speak All Languages.

Let Freedom Never Perish In Your Hands.

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

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.

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

Among The Several Kinds Of Beauty, The Eye Takes Most Delight In Colors.

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.

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.

The Post Of Honour Is A Private Station.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Whether Dark Presages Of The Night Proceed From Any Latent Power Of The Soul During Her Abstraction, Or From Any Operation Of Subordinate Spirits, Has Been A Dispute.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

A True Critic Ought To Dwell Rather Upon Excellencies Than Imperfections

Supposing All The Great Points Of Atheism Were Formed Into A Kind Of Creed, I Would Fain Ask Whether It Would Not Require An Infinite Greater Measure Of Faith Than Any Set Of Articles Which They So Violently Oppose.

It Was A Saying Of An Ancient Philosopher, Which I Find Some Of Our Writers Have Ascribed To Queen Elizabeth, Who Perhaps Might Have Taken Occasion To Repeat It, That A Good Face Is A Letter Of Recommendation.

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

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

The Chief Ingredients In The Composition Of Those Qualities That Gain Esteem And Praise, Are Good Nature, Truth, Good Sense, And Good Breeding.

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 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.

Thus I Live In The World Rather As A Spectator Of Mankind, Than As One Of The Species, By Which Means I Have Made Myself A Speculative Statesman, Soldier, Merchant, And Artisan, Without Ever Meddling With Any Practical Part Of Life.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Sunday Clears Away The Rust Of The Whole Week.

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

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.

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

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.

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

'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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Nature Seems To Have Taken A Particular Care To Disseminate Her Blessings Among The Different Regions Of The World, With An Eye To Their Mutual Intercourse And Traffic Among Mankind, That The Nations Of The Several Parts Of The Globe Might Have A Kind Of Dependence Upon One Another And Be United Together By Their Common Interest.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Eternity! Thou Pleasing, Dreadful Thought.

Time Management

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

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.

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

Pleasing Others

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

In That Disputable Point Of Persecuting Men For Conscience Sake, I See Such Dreadful Consequences Rising, I Would Be As Fully Convinced Of The Truth Of It, As A Mathematical Demonstration, Before I Would Venture To Act Upon It Or Make It A Part Of My Religion.

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.

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

All Of Heaven We Have Below.

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.

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

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.

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

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

A Great Large Book Is A Great Evil.

Who Does Not More Admire Cicero As An Author Than As A Consul Of Rome?

Nothing Makes Men Sharper Than Want.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thy Steady Temper, Portius, Can Look On Guilt, Rebellion, Fraud, And Cæsar, In The Calm Lights Of Mild Philosophy.

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

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

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

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Elizabeth Hurley

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