Date: December 10, 1788; 1789
"Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure th...
preview | full record— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)
Date: 1789
"In this deep consternation the Lord was pleased to break in upon my soul with his bright beams of heavenly light; and in an instant as it were, removing the veil, and letting light into a dark place, I saw clearly with the eye of faith the crucified Saviour bleeding on the cross on mount Calvary."
preview | full record— Equiano, Olaudah [Gustavus Vasa] (c. 1745-1797)
Date: 1789
"In no state of society can a practice, involving in it circumstances of such atrocious and enormous guilt, be considered as defensible by any person whose understanding is not darkened by the turpitude of his heart; in whom not only the feelings of the moral sense are extinguished, but, in this ...
preview | full record— Belsham, William (1752-1827)
Date: 1790
"All the splendour of the highest prosperity can never enlighten the gloom with which so dreadful an idea must necessarily over-shadow the imagination; nor, in a wise and virtuous man, can all the sorrow of the most afflicting adversity ever dry up the joy which necessarily springs from the habit...
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"Men are caught indeed by the effusions of a brilliant fancy and bright imagination; but its refulgence and flashes, like the coruscations of the diamond, serve only to sparkle in the eye of the beholder, and to dazzle his sight, without further use or advantage to any one: whereas practical good...
preview | full record— Moore, Charles (fl. 1785-90)
Date: 1790
"It is not the warmth and elevations of fancy, or the quick and bright assemblage of ideas, which irradiate the paths of beneficial truth; since none are more liable to error than they, who conduct themselves by the wild and dancing light of imagination alone."
preview | full record— Moore, Charles (fl. 1785-90)
Date: 1790
"All the pleasing illusions, which made power gentle, and obedience liberal, which harmonized the different shades of life, and which, by a bland assimilation, incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and soften private society, are to be dissolved by this new conquering empire of...
preview | full record— Burke, Edmund (1729-1797)
Date: 1790
"This was reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid darkness of this enlightened age."
preview | full record— Burke, Edmund (1729-1797)
Date: 1791
"I have a wonderful superstitious love of mystery; when, perhaps, the truth is, that it is owing to the cloudy darkness of my own mind."
preview | full record— Boswell, James (1740-1795)
Date: January 19, 1791
"You know them but at a distance, on the statements of those who always flatter the reigning power, and who, amidst their representations of the grievances, inflame your minds against those who are oppressed. These are amongst the effects of unremitted labour, when men exhaust their attention, bu...
preview | full record— Burke, Edmund (1729-1797)