The lives of great men cannot be writ with any tolerable degree of elegance or exactness within a short time after their decease.
Joseph AddisonWhy will any man be so impertinently officious as to tell me all prospect of a future state is only fancy and delusion? Is there any merit in being the messenger of ill news. If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and better man.
Joseph AddisonWe find that Good and Evil happen alike to all Men on this Side of the Grave; and as the principle Design of Tragedy is to raise Commiseration and Terror in the Minds of the Audience, we shall defeat this great End, if we always make Virtue and Innocence happy and successful.
Joseph AddisonWhether zeal or moderation be the point we aim at, let us keep fire out of the one, and frost out of the other.
Joseph Addison