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
A misery is not to be measure from the nature of the evil but from the temper of the sufferer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Misery is determined more by how one reacts to suffering than by the suffering itself.
Joseph Addison suggests that the experience of misery is subjective and largely influenced by an individual's temperament. Rather than the severity of the circumstances, it is our internal response and perception of those circumstances that shapes our experience of suffering.
Themes
MiserySufferingTemperamentPerspectiveWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational talk about resilience, you might quote this to illustrate how mindset affects our experiences.
More from Joseph Addison
All quotes βGood 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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