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.
JOSEPH ADDISONMen may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.
More Joseph Addison Quotes
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Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Antidotes are what you take to prevent dotes.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Whether this happens because they stay so long and attend their work so diligently that they forget the faces and persons, which they first sat down with, or whatever it is, they seldom rise from the toilet the same woman they appeared when they began to dress
JOSEPH ADDISON -
There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Wit is the fetching of congruity out of incongruity.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Jesters do often prove prophets.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON