Frasi di Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Data di nascita: 1. Maggio 1672
Data di morte: 17. Giugno 1719
Joseph Addison è stato un politico, scrittore e drammaturgo britannico.
Frasi Joseph Addison
„La domenica pulisce tutta la ruggine della settimana.“
112
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
The Spectator
„Vi sono alcune ragioni per le quali il sapere è più consono al mondo delle donne che a quello degli uomini. In primo luogo, esse hanno più tempo libero e conducono vita più sedentaria… Un'altra ragione per la quale le donne, specialmente donne di rango, dovrebbero applicarsi alle lettere è che i mariti sono generalmente estranei.“
dal Guardian del 1713; citato in Ian Watt, Le origini del romanzo borghese
„Quando penso a questa grande città [Londra] divisa in tante parti e quartieri la considero come un complesso composto di diverse nazioni differenti per costumi, maniere e interessi… In breve gli abitanti di St. James, sebbene vivano sotto le stesse leggi e parlino lo stesso linguaggio, sono un popolo diverso dagli abitanti di Cheapside che sono altrettanto separati da un lato, da quelli di Temple e, dall'altro, da quelli di Smithfield.“
dallo Spectator; citato in Ian Watt, Le origini del romanzo borghese
The Spectator
„Niente si può mettere bene in musica che non sia privo di senso.“
18
Nothing is capable of being well set to music, that is not nonsense.
The Spectator
„When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out“
Thoughts in Westminster Abbey (1711).
Contesto: When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.
„Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.“
No. 147.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Variante: A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body
Contesto: Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.
„In a word, his hopes are full of immortality, his schemes are large and glorious, and his conduct suitable to one who knows his true interest, and how to pursue it by proper methods.“
No. 225.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Contesto: The cast of mind which is natural to a discreet man, make him look forward into futurity, and consider what will be his condition millions of ages hence, as well as what it is at present. He knows that the misery or happiness which are reserved for him in another world, lose nothing of their reality by being placed at so great a distance from him. The objects do not appear little to him because they are remote. He considers that those pleasures and pains which lie hid in eternity, approach nearer to him every moment, and will be present with him in their full weight and measure, as much as those pains and pleasures which he feels at this very instant. For this reason he is careful to secure to himself that which is the proper happiness of his nature, and the ultimate design of his being. He carries his thoughts to the end of every action, and considers the most distant as well as the most immediate effects of it. He supersedes every little prospect of gain and advantage which offers itself here, if he does not find it consistent with his views of an hereafter. In a word, his hopes are full of immortality, his schemes are large and glorious, and his conduct suitable to one who knows his true interest, and how to pursue it by proper methods.
„Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon: cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it: cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man.“
No. 225.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Contesto: At the same time that I think discretion the most useful talent a man can be master of, I look upon cunning to be the accomplishment of little, mean, ungenerous minds. Discretion points out the noblest ends to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable methods of attaining them: cunning has only private selfish aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon: cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it: cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life: cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our immediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understandings, cunning is often to be met with in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them.
„The Fear of Death often proves Mortal“
No. 25 (29 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Contesto: The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.
„What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!“
— Joseph Addison, libro Cato
Act IV, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Contesto: How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!
„What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.“
No. 177 (22 September 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Contesto: I have somewhere met with the epitaph of a charitable man, which has very much pleased me. I cannot recollect the words, but the sense of it is to this purpose; What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.
„The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise“
Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.
Contesto: The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;
The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with superior greatness smiles.
„A new creation rises to my sight“
A Letter from Italy (1703).
Contesto: Fain would I Raphael's godlike art rehearse,
And show th' immortal labours in my verse,
Where from themingled strength of shade and light
A new creation rises to my sight,
Such heavenly figures from his pencil flow,
So warm with life his blended colours glow.
From theme to theme with secret pleasure tost,
Amidst the soft variety I 'm lost:
Here pleasing airs my ravish'd soul confound
With circling notes and labyrinths of sound;
Here domes and temples rise in distant views,
And opening palaces invite my Muse.
„Great souls by instinct to each other turn,
Demand alliance, and in friendship burn“
— Joseph Addison, The Campaign
Origine: The Campaign (1704), Line 101.
Contesto: Great souls by instinct to each other turn,
Demand alliance, and in friendship burn;
A sudden friendship, while with stretched-out rays
They meet each other, mingling blaze with blaze.
Polished in courts, and hardened in the field,
Renowned for conquest, and in council skilled,
Their courage dwells not in a troubled flood
Of mounting spirits, and fermenting blood:
Lodged in the soul, with virtue overruled,
Inflamed by reason, and by reason cooled,
In hours of peace content to be unknown.
And only in the field of battle shown:
To souls like these, in mutual friendship joined,
Heaven dares intrust the cause of humankind.
