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
Good nature will always supply the absence of beauty; but beauty cannot supply the absence of good nature.
Interpretation
Good nature is more valuable than physical beauty, as it contributes positively to relationships and interactions.
This quote by Joseph Addison emphasizes the importance of good nature or character over mere physical beauty. While a person with a kind and pleasant disposition can compensate for a lack of traditional beauty, the reverse is not true; beauty alone cannot replace the value of a good nature. In essence, it suggests that true attractiveness stems from one's inner qualities rather than outer appearances.
In practice
Using this quote to remind friends that kindness is more important than looks.
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.
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.
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.
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.
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
What can be seen on earth points to neither the total absence nor the obvious presence of divinity, but to the presence of a hidden God. Everything bears this mark.
There is nothing respecting which a man may be so long unconscious as of the extent and strength of his prejudices.
The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.
Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out.
Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness.
If bodies please thee, praise God on occasion of them, and turn back thy love upon their Maker; lest in these things which please thee, thou displease. If souls please thee, be they loved in God: for they too are mutable, but in Him they are firmly established.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.