The voices / 209 fragments

Joseph Addison

1672 AD — 1719 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

Author and source reference ↗

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Historical source references

Cato
A Letter from Italy
The Campaign
Ode
Horace
Spectator
Prologue to The Drummer
Age · anthology attribution: Addison
Beauty · anthology attribution: Addison
Bigotry · anthology attribution: Addison
Cheerfulness · anthology attribution: Addison
Christianity · anthology attribution: Addison
Conceit · anthology attribution: Addison
Conscience · anthology attribution: Addison
Courtship · anthology attribution: Addison
Discretion · anthology attribution: Addison
Faith · anthology attribution: Addison
Friendship · anthology attribution: Addison
Futurity · anthology attribution: Addison
Gluttony · anthology attribution: Addison
Happiness · anthology attribution: Addison
Heroes · anthology attribution: Addison
Hope · anthology attribution: Addison
Hypocrisy · anthology attribution: Addison
Jealousy · anthology attribution: Addison
Justice · anthology attribution: Addison
Marriage · anthology attribution: Addison
Misfortune · anthology attribution: Addison
Modesty · anthology attribution: Addison
Parents · anthology attribution: Addison

Archive entries

01c. 1695 AD

The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.

Joseph Addison / quote

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02c. 1695 AD

Thy steady temper, Portius, Can look on guilt, rebellion, fraud, and Cæsar, In the calm lights of mild philosophy.

Joseph Addison / quote

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03c. 1695 AD

'T is not in mortals to command success, But we 'll do more, Sempronius,—we 'll deserve it.

Joseph Addison / quote

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04c. 1695 AD

Blesses his stars and thinks it luxury.

Joseph Addison / quote

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05c. 1695 AD

'T 's pride, rank pride, and haughtiness of soul; I think the Romans call it stoicism.

Joseph Addison / quote

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06c. 1695 AD

Were you with these, my prince, you 'd soon forget The pale, unripened beauties of the north.

Joseph Addison / quote

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07c. 1695 AD

Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover, Fades in his eye, and palls upon the sense. The virtuous Marcia towers above her sex.

Joseph Addison / quote

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08c. 1695 AD

My voice is still for war. Gods! can a Roman senate long debate Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?

Joseph Addison / quote

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09c. 1695 AD

Great Pompey's shade complains that we are slow, And Scipio's ghost walks unaveng'd amongst us!

Joseph Addison / quote

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10c. 1695 AD

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

Joseph Addison / quote

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11c. 1695 AD

The woman that deliberates is lost.

Joseph Addison / quote

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12c. 1695 AD

Curse all his virtues! they 've undone his country.

Joseph Addison / quote

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13c. 1695 AD

What a pity is it That we can die but once to save our country!

Joseph Addison / quote

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14c. 1695 AD

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station.

Joseph Addison / quote

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15c. 1695 AD

It must be so,—Plato, thou reasonest well! Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread and inward horror Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 'T is the divinity that stirs within us; 'T is Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!

Joseph Addison / quote

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16c. 1695 AD

I 'm weary of conjectures,—this must end 'em. Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me: This in a moment brings me to an end; But this informs me I shall never die. The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. 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 war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

Joseph Addison / quote

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17c. 1695 AD

Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.

Joseph Addison / quote

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18c. 1695 AD

From hence, let fierce contending nations know What dire effects from civil discord flow.

Joseph Addison / quote

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19c. 1695 AD

For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.

Joseph Addison / quote

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20c. 1695 AD

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.

Joseph Addison / quote

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21c. 1695 AD

And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.

Joseph Addison / quote

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22c. 1695 AD

And those that paint them truest praise them most.

Joseph Addison / quote

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23c. 1695 AD

The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.

Joseph Addison / quote

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24c. 1695 AD

Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole.

Joseph Addison / quote

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Joseph Addison

Archive entries

Read further

Meditations

The Republic

Tao Te Ching