Joseph Addison
He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.
Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought.
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.
Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.
Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
Admiration is a very short-lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.
A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.
A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves constant ease and serenity within us; and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions which can befall us from without.
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.