“Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses, and disappointments; but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures.”

— Joseph Addison, The Guardian, No. 117 (1713)

About Joseph Addison

1672 – 1719

English essayist, poet and politician, co-founder of 'The Spectator' and author of the tragedy 'Cato' (1713).

“And such a friendship ends not but with life.”

“'Tis not in mortals to command success, but we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.”

“True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise.”

“Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait.”

“Amid my list of blessings infinite, stands this the foremost, 'That my heart has bled.'”

“When prosperous the fool trembles for the evil that is to come; in adversity the philosopher smiles for the good that he has had.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

“Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”