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A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of; it heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades in paintings, it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colors more beautiful, though not so glaring as they would be without.

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of; it heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades in paintings, it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colors more beautiful, though not so glaring as they would be without.

Approximate author period: c. 1695 AD · renaissance

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Joseph Addison
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1695 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint (1672–1719)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1896) (1896 AD)

Modesty · anthology attribution: Addison

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