Zitat des Tages von Joseph Addison:
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.
There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.
Jesters do often prove prophets.
Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.
Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
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.
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
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.
The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.
The woman that deliberates is lost.
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.
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
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.
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.
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.
Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.
Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.
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.
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.
The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.
One should take good care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life as laughter.
A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.
There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.
The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.
The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.
Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.