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Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

Joseph Addison

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Joseph Addison
Age: 47 †
Born: 1672
Born: May 1
Died: 1719
Died: June 17
Editor
Essayist
Journalist
Librettist
Playwright
Poet
Politician
Writer
Milston
Wiltshire
Joseph Addisson
Right Hon. Joseph Addison
Mere
Confidence
Literature
Without
Bashfulness
Awkwardness
Awkward
Merit

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Though a man has all other perfections, and wants discretion, he will be of no great consequence in the world but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his station of life.
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A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world and if in the present life his happiness arises from the subduing of his desires, it will arise in the next from the gratification of them.
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Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.
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There is not a more pleasante exercise of the mind than gratitude.
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There is not, in my opinion, anything more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thus rise above reason, and yet fall infinitely short of it.
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The head has the most beautiful appearance, as well as the highest station, in a human figure.
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Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it courage which arises from a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.
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Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes.
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What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
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Our friends don't see our faults, or conceal them, or soften them.
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There is not a more melancholy object than a man who has his head turned with religious enthusiasm.
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I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.
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There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress.
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If men, who in their hearts are friends to a government, forbear giving it their utmost assistance against its enemies, they put it in the power of a few desperate men to ruin the welfare of those who are much superior to them in strength, number, and interest.
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Cunning has only private selfish aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon cunning is a kind of shortsightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance.
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Let freedom never perish in your hands.
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True fortitude is seen in great exploits That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides And all else is tow'ring phrenzy and distraction.
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The passion for praise, which is so very vehement in the fair sex, produces excellent effects in women of sense, who desire to be admired for that which only deserves admiration.
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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.
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Life is not long enough for a coquette to play all her tricks in.
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