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 ADDISONTalking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
More Joseph Addison Quotes
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The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.
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Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition, but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.
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Content thyself to be obscurely good.
JOSEPH ADDISON -
Honour’s a sacred tie, the law of kings, The noble mind’s distinguishing perfection
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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.
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True benevolence or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation.
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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.
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Encourage innocent amusement.
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There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.
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Love is a second life; it grows into the soul, warms every vein, and beats in every pulse.
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Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.
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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.
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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.
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Honor’s a fine imaginary notion, that draws in raw and unexperienced men to real mischiefs.
JOSEPH ADDISON






