Wit is the fetching of congruity out of incongruity.
JOSEPH ADDISONAmong 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.
More Joseph Addison Quotes
-
-
Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying the face; she has touched it with vermilion, planted in it a double row of ivory, made it the seat of smiles and blushes, lighted it up and enlivened it with the brightness of the eyes.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Mankind are more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Antidotes are what you take to prevent dotes.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Artificial intelligence will never be a match for natural stupidity.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Honor’s a fine imaginary notion, that draws in raw and unexperienced men to real mischiefs.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
The friendships of the world are oft confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasures.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
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,
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
JOSEPH ADDISON