Joseph Addison Quotes on Mind (17 Quotes)

Ideas in the mind are the transcript of the world words are the transcript of ideas And writing and printing are the transcript of words.

It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality Or whence this secret dread and inward horror Of falling into naught Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction 'T is the divinity that stirs within us 'T is Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity thou pleasing, dreadful thought.

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

Our disputants put me in mind of the skuttle fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him, till he becomes invisible.

Laughter, while it lasts, slackens and unbraces the mind, weakens the faculties and causes a kind of remissness and dissolution in all the powers of the soul and thus it may be looked on as weakness in the composition of human nature. But if we consider the frequent reliefs we receive from it and how often it breaks the gloom which is apt to depress the mind and damp our spirits, with transient, unexpected gleams of joy, one would take care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

From social intercourse are derived some of the highest enjoyments of life where there is a free interchange of sentiments the mind acquires new ideas, and by frequent exercise of its powers, the understanding gains fresh vigor.

I have often thought, it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in the Middle of Winter.

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

Our sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our senses. It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action without being tired or satiated.

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.

There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude.

Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, filling it with a steady and perpetual serenity

Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.

There are many shining qualities on the mind of man but none so useful as discretion. It is this which gives a value to all the rest, and sets them at work in their proper places, and turns them to the advantage of their possessor. Without it, learning is pedantry wit, impertinence virtue itself looks like weakness and the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice. 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.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.