Samuel Johnson in The Rambler, no. 148 (17 August 1751).
Misattributed
Joseph Addison: 226 quotes40 likes
Joseph Addison Quotes
No. 476 (5 September 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.”
This is attributed to Addison in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993) with a citation of "Economy and Benevolence" in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794) but that was a publication of a contemporary "Mr. Addison" in several volumes, and not the poet. Vol. III of that publication (in 1796), on page 205, does contain these lines, but as part of an anonymous ancecdote.
Misattributed
“There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.”
Act V, sc. 1.
The Drummer (1716)
“On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait,
And from your judgment must expect my fate.”
A Poem to His Majesty (1695), l. 21.
Second Angel, in Rosamond (c. 1707), Act III, sc. i.
“I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.”
No. 10 (11 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act IV, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
No. 476 (5 September 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
No. 169 (13 September 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“Jesters do often prove prophets.”
Not found in Addison's works, and "Jesters do oft prove prophets" is actually William Shakespeare, in King Lear, Act V, sc. iii.
Misattributed
“Justice discards party, friendship, kindred, and is therefore always represented as blind.”
No. 99.
The Guardian (1713)
No. 10 (11 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.”
No. 574 (30 July 1714).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
No. 535 (13 November 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Very often attributed to Addison, this is apparently a paraphrase of a statement by Hugh Blair, published in Blair's Sermons (1815), Vol. 1, p. 219, where he mentions "men of pleasure and the men of business", and that "To the former every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement".
Misattributed
“Better to die ten thousand deaths,
Than wound my honour.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act I, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.”
No. 146.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Attributed to "Addison" in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, both Ancient and Modern (1908) edited by Tryon Edwards, p. 580, but this might be the later "Mr. Addison" who was credited with publishing Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794).
Disputed
“See in what peace a Christian can die!”
Last words, to his stepson (1719), as quoted in Conjectures on Original Composition (1759) by Edward Young
Variants:
I have sent for you that you may see in what peace a Christian may die.
As quoted in The R. I. Schoolmaster, Vol. V (1859), edited by William A. Mowry and Henry Clark, p. 71
I have sent for you that you may see how a Christian may die.
As quoted in Famous Sayings and their Authors (1906) by Edward Latham
“We are growing serious, and,
Let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.”
Act IV, sc. vi.
The Drummer (1716)
No. 225.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
“A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.”
This appears to be an anonymous proverb of unknown authorship, only occasionally attributed to Addison.
Misattributed
Spectator, No. 68.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The ideal man bears the accidents of life
With dignity and grace, the best of circumstances.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act V, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
No. 231 (24 November 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“To my confusion, and eternal grief,
I must approve the sentence that destroys me.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act III, scene ii.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
No. 383 (20 May 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
No. 231 (24 November 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“Death only closes a Man's Reputation, and determines it as good or bad.”
No. 349 (10 April 1712)
Famously seen on the brothel wall in the film Easy Rider.
The Spectator (1711–1714)
A Letter from Italy, to the Right Honourable Charles, Lord Halifax. 1701.
No. 215 (6 November 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“When you are at Rome, live as Romans live.”
St. Ambrose, Si fueris Romæ, Romano vivito more as translated in Latin Proverbs and Quotations (1869) by Alfred Henderson; very commonly paraphrased as "When in Rome do as the Romans do".
Misattributed
“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”
The earliest attributions of this remark to anyone are in 1941, to Mortimer Adler, in How To Read A Book (1940), although this actually a paraphrased shortening of a statement in his preface: Reading — as explained (and defended) in this book — is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
Misattributed
“There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.”
No. 99.
The Guardian (1713)
“Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget
The pale, unripened beauties of the north.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act I, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.”
A translation of one of La Rochefoucauld's maxims, published posthumously in 1693. In the original: "Force gens veulent être dévots, mais personne ne veut être humble.".
Misattributed
François Fénelon, in Selections from the Writings of Fenelon: With an appendix, containing a Memoir of his Life (1829) as translated by A Lady (Eliza Lee Cabot Follen) http://books.google.com/books?id=qJ4rAAAAYAAJ, Letter 37, p. 189. <br class="br">Misattributed
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act III, scene ii.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
