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Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.

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
Upon
Cunning
Often
Mistaken
May
Gravity
Men
Wit
Manner
Pass
Vivacity
Weak
Mimic
Wisdom
Discretion

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Hunting is not a proper employment for a thinking man.
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Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.
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It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belongto his Neighbour.
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The care of our national commerce redounds more to the riches and prosperity of the public than any other act of government.
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Women were formed to temper Mankind, and sooth them into Tenderness and Compassion not to set an Edge upon their Minds, and blowup in them those Passions which are too apt to rise of their own Accord.
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There is no passion that is not finely expressed in those parts of the inspired writings which are proper for divine songs and anthems.
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Nothing lies on our hands with such uneasiness as time. Wretched and thoughtless creatures! In the only place where covetousness were a virtue we turn prodigals.
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The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out of a proper method to catch the reader's eye without which, a good thing may pass over unobserved, or lost among commissions of bankrupt.
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Must one rash word, the infirmity of age, throw down the merit of my better years?
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The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.
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There is no greater sign of a bad cause, than when the patrons of it are reduced to the necessity of making use of the most wicked artifices to support it.
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An honest man, that is not quite sober, has nothing to fear.
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I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
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Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
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In the founders of great families, titles or attributes of honor are generally correspondent with the virtues of the person to whom they are applied but in their descendants they are too often the marks rather of grandeur than of merit. The stamp and denomination still continue, but the intrinsic value is frequently lost.
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All well-regulated families set apart an hour every morning for tea and bread and butter
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What can that man fear who takes care to please a Being that is able to crush all his adversaries?
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What can be nobler than the idea it gives us of the Supreme Being?
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One of the most important but one of the most difficult things for a powerful mind is to be its own master.
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