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If men of eminence are exposed to censure on one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewise receive praises which they do not deserve.

— Joseph Addison The Spectator (1711)

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: No. 101 (26 June 1711), this has sometimes been quoted as "It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole age".
Work: The Spectator, 1711
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

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I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.

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Music, the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heaven we have below.

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If there's a power above us,
(And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works) he must delight in virtue.

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A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.

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Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.

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Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.

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Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.

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More quotes by Joseph Addison

Keep up the loud harmonious song,
And imitate the blest above,
In joy, and harmony, and love.

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If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter.

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

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We are growing serious, and,
Let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.

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Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph Addison (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.