Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.
Joseph Addison

One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.
Joseph Addison

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.
Joseph Addison

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
Joseph Addison

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
Joseph Addison

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
Joseph Addison

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.
Joseph Addison

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
Joseph Addison

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt.
Joseph Addison

Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
Joseph Addison

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
Joseph Addison

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.
Joseph Addison

The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.
Joseph Addison

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.
Joseph Addison

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.
Joseph Addison

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.
Joseph Addison

The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.
Joseph Addison

The post of honour is a private station.
Joseph Addison

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.
Joseph Addison

The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.
Joseph Addison