Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.
Joseph AddisonRead
Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition, but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A father's love for his daughter is unique and profound, surpassing other familial affections.
This quote by Joseph Addison suggests that the bond between a father and daughter is the highest form of affection, characterized by a deep and indescribable emotional connection. Unlike love for wives, which involves desire, or love for sons, which often entails ambition, a father's love for his daughter is pure, selfless, and transcends verbal expression.
Themes
FatherDaughterLoveAffectionFamily
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a wedding, a father can share this quote to express his feelings towards his daughter.
More from Joseph Addison
All quotes →Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Joseph AddisonRead
Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.
Joseph AddisonRead
Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
Joseph AddisonRead
It is impossible for us, who live in the latter ages of the world, to make observations in criticism, morality, or in any art or science, which have not been touched upon by others. We have little else left us but to represent the common sense of mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights.
Joseph AddisonRead
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
Joseph AddisonRead
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We would not have been a successful family without my father and stepfather, who were working-class men with better dreams for their children. We just wore them out.
James McbrideRead
The nature of impending fatherhood is that you are doing something that you're unqualified to do, and then you become qualified while doing it.
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I don't believe there are devils enough in hell to pull a boy out of the arms of a godly mother.
Billy SundayRead