Date: December 24, 1711

"Ambition raises a secret Tumult in the Soul, it inflames the Mind, and puts it into a violent Hurry of Thought: It is still reaching after an empty imaginary Good, that has not in it the Power to abate or satisfy it."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: December 24, 1711

"It may indeed fill the Mind for a while with a giddy kind of Pleasure, but it is such a Pleasure as makes a Man restless and uneasy under it; and which does not so much satisfy the present Thirst, as it excites fresh Desires, and sets the Soul on new Enterprises."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: December 24, 1711

"The Desire of it stirs up very uneasy Motions in the Mind, and is rather inflamed than satisfied by the Presence of the Thing desired."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Thursday, November 15, 1711

"Her Soul seems to have been made up of Love and Poetry; She felt the Passion in all its Warmth, and described it in all its Symptoms."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Thursday, December 20, 1711

"This Passion reigns more among bad Poets, than among any other Set of Men."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, December 22, 1711

"The Use therefore of the Passions is to stir it up, and to put it upon Action, to awaken the Understanding, to enforce the Will, and to make the whole Man more vigorous and attentive in the Prosecutions of his Designs."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Monday, March 12, 1711

"The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Monday, March 12, 1711

"There is another Set of Men that I must likewise lay a Claim to, whom I have lately called the Blanks of Society, as being altogether unfurnish'd with Ideas."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Wednesday, June 27, 1711

"Not to be tedious, there is scarce any Emotion in the Mind which does not produce a suitable Agitation in the Fan; insomuch, that if I only see the Fan of a disciplin'd Lady, I know very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Thursday, July 12, 1711

"I consider the Body as a System of Tubes and Glands, or to use a more Rustick Phrase, a Bundle of Pipes and Strainers, fitted to one another after so wonderful a Manner as to make a proper Engine for the Soul to work with."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)