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A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections

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
Inspiration
Rather
Excellencies
Upon
Imperfections
True
Critic
Dwell
Imperfection
Critics
Ought

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If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.
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I always rejoice when I see a tribunal filled with a man of an upright and inflexible temper, who in the execution of his country's laws can overcome all private fear, resentment, solicitation, and even pity itself.
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Husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency.
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That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
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See in what peace a Christian can die.
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Among the writers of antiquity there are none who instruct us more openly in the manners of their respective times in which they lived than those who have employed themselves in satire, under whatever dress it may appear.
Joseph Addison
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Music, when thus applied, raises noble hints in the mind of the hearer, and fills it with great conceptions. It strengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture.
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It is easier for an artful Man, who is not in Love, to persuade his Mistress he has a Passion for her, and to succeed in his Pursuits, than for one who loves with the greatest Violence. True Love hath ten thousand Griefs, Impatiencies and Resentments, that render a Man unamiable in the Eyes of the Person whose Affection he sollicits.
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I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: 'What I spent I lost what I possessed is left to others what I gave away remains with me.'
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Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent should be so violent while it lasts and that it should last no longer than is necessary for the preservation of the young?
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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.
Joseph Addison
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Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
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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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Let freedom never perish in your hands.
Joseph Addison
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Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts, Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face, When discontent sits heavy at my heart.
Joseph Addison
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We have in England a particular bashfulness in every thing that regards religion.
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Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.
Joseph Addison
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To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.
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Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind
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Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.
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