Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery. Joseph Addison More Quotes by Joseph Addison More Quotes From Joseph Addison There is no defence against reproach, but obscurity; it is a kind of concomitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph. Joseph Addison obscurity greatness defense Why will any man be so impertinently officious as to tell me all prospect of a future state is only fancy and delusion? Is there any merit in being the messenger of ill news. If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and better man. Joseph Addison future dream men There is nothing which one regards so much with an eye of mirth and pity as innocence when it has in it a dash of folly. Joseph Addison mirth innocence eye E'en the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom, and trodden weeds send out a rich perfume. Joseph Addison myrtle rocks weed When a man is made up wholly of the dove, without the least grain of the serpent in his composition, he becomes ridiculous in many circumstances of life, and very often discredits his best actions. Joseph Addison personality character men What can that man fear who takes care to please a Being that is able to crush all his adversaries? Joseph Addison crush fear men Facts are plain spoken; hopes and figures are its aversion. Joseph Addison aversion figures facts In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value it bears, but to the value our fancies set upon it. Joseph Addison grief real loss I have often reflected within myself on this unaccountable humor in womankind of being smitten with everything that is showy and superficial, and on the numberless evils that befall the sex from this light fantastical disposition. Joseph Addison light evil sex Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature. Joseph Addison weakness nature literature There is nothing in which men more deceive themselves than in what they call zeal. Joseph Addison zeal deceiving men Physic is, for the most part, only a substitute for temperance and exercise. Joseph Addison substitutes health exercise That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel? Joseph Addison mean-people fathers-day men Better to die ten thousand deaths, Than wound my honour. Joseph Addison thousand honor death An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person. Joseph Addison conceited talking men 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! Joseph Addison patriotic integrity country Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, but if it would take the entire Possession of our Ears, if it would make us incapable of hearing Sense, if it would exclude Arts that have a much greater Tendency to the Refinement of human Nature; I must confess I would allow it no better Quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his Common-wealth. Joseph Addison music plato art We find that Good and Evil happen alike to all Men on this Side of the Grave; and as the principle Design of Tragedy is to raise Commiseration and Terror in the Minds of the Audience, we shall defeat this great End, if we always make Virtue and Innocence happy and successful. Joseph Addison successful evil men If our zeal were true and genuine we should be much more angry with a sinner than a heretic. Joseph Addison zeal genuine should I would have every zealous man examine his heart thoroughly, and I believe he will often find that what be calls a zeal for his religion is either pride, interest, or ill-repute. Joseph Addison pride heart believe