"When I read the rules of criticism, I immediately inquire after the works of the author who has written them, and by that means discover what it is he likes in a composition."

Joseph Addison Politics See all quotes by Joseph Addison →

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“Joseph Addison page at San Antonio College”

“A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts.”

“There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.”

“Sir Roger made several reflections on the greatness of the British Nation; as, that one Englishman could beat three Frenchmen; that we could never be in danger of Popery so long as we took care of our fleet; that the Thames was the noblest river in Europe...with many other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the heart of a true Englishman.”

“I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.”

“Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.”

Resonant Thoughts

"When... we have a series of values of a quantity which continually diminish, and in such a way, that name any quantity we may, however small, all the values, after a certain value, are severally less …"

— Augustus De Morgan

Mathematics1806–1871

#friendship

"The author's conviction on this day of the New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music."

— Ezra Pound

Literature1885–1972

#time

"I say if your fear of criticism is stronger than your desire for success, you've failed in thought, long before action."

— Cha Cha (rapper)

Entertainment1980

#success

"When we know all of whatever it may be, we can never do anything but forgive, madame. That is the profoundest religious truth that was ever written. It contains, in fact, a whole religion—the noblest …"

— Rafael Sabatini

Literature1875–1950

#truth