"If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is."

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More quotes from: Joseph Addison

• "A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions ..."
• "A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world. "
• "A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves ..."
• "A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great ..."
• "A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or ..."
• "A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants. "
• "A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes. "
• "Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, ..."
• "An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than ..."
• "Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is ..."
• "Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down ..."
• "Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as ..."
• "Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; ..."
• "Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought. "
• "Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills ..."
• "He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider ..."
• "I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shows none ..."
• "I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me ..."
• "I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very ..."
• "I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of ..."
• "Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, ..."
• "Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red ..."
• "It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness ..."
• "It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are ..."
• "Jesters do often prove prophets. "
• "Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be ..."

• "Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and ..."
• "Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes ..."
• "Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness. "
• "Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and ..."
• "Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue. "
• "Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below. "
• "Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature. "
• "No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion ..."
• "Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense. "
• "Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion. "
• "One's religion is whatever he is most interested in, and yours is Success. "
• "Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; ..."
• "Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble. "
• "Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. "
• "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. "
• "See in what peace a Christian can die. "
• "Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity. "
• "Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. "
• "That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what ..."
• "The beloved of the Almighty are: the rich who have the humility of the poor, ..."
• "The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are ..."
• "The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their ..."
• "The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch ..."
• "The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a ..."
• "The post of honour is a private station. "

• "The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink ..."
• "The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune. "
• "The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... ..."
• "The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he ..."
• "The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing. "
• "Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity. "
• "There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress. "
• "There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch. "
• "There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice. "
• "They were a people so primitive they did not know how to get money, except ..."
• "Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, ..."
• "To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of ..."
• "To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all ..."
• "To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to ..."
• "To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not ..."
• "True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in ..."
• "''We are always doing,'' says he, ''something for posterity, but I would see posterity do ..."
• "What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country. "
• "What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul. "
• "What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be ..."
• "When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations. "
• "When somebody gives you a sexy look, you know they're trying. It's terrible! But when ..."
• "With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own ..."
• "Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both. "