A biography for Joseph Addisonhasn’t been written yet.
“The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.”
“Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.”
“Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.”
“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.”
“There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress.”
“What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.”
“Jesters do often prove prophets.”
“A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.”
“What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.”
“There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.”
“The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.”
“A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.”
“Music, the greatest good that mortals know and all of heaven we have hear below.”
“Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.”
“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”
“The woman that deliberates is lost.”
“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”
“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.”
“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.”
“Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.”