“The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.”

British writer and politician

Joseph Addison was a British writer and politician remembered as a leading figure of early 18th-century English prose. He lived in the period 1672 to 1719 and is especially associated with Richard Steele, his close friend and co-founder of The Spectator. Addison is best known for helping shape a clearer, simpler prose style that moved away from the mannered habits and stock classical imagery of the previous century. He is also known for Cato, a Tragedy, written in 1712, which helped secure his reputation beyond periodical writing.