Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

There surely is a being who presides over the universe; and who, with infinite wisdom and power, has reduced the jarring elementsinto just order and proportion. Let speculative reasoners dispute, how far this beneficent being extends his care, and whether he prolongs our existence beyond the grave, in order to bestow on virtue its just reward, and render it fully triumphant.

The ages of greatest public spirit are not always eminent for private virtue.

I have written on all sorts of subjects... yet I have no enemies; except indeed all the Whigs, all the Tories, and all the Christians.

The consequence of a very free commerce between the sexes, and of their living much together, will often terminate in intrigues and gallantry.

But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country.

Fine writing, according to Mr. Addison, consists of sentiments which are natural without being obvious.