Date: 1744, 1753

"This, indeed, is the only Situation I can imagine dreadful enough to conquer a Mind endued with true Principles, or armed with any moderate Degree of Fortitude and Patience."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"But here I would not be understood, as if David Simple, overcome by Timidity and Despair, raged or raved at his Misfortunes; or as if he did not exert the utmost human Patience, in submitting to them: only that his Mind was so far weakened and conquered by the Distress of his Family, that...

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"Pictures of the Distress of my Family began to succeed each other in my Mind, and Terror and Timidity conquered my better Judgment."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"But, with a strong and lively Hope in the Revelation God has been pleased to send us, and with a Heart swelling with Gratitude for that Revelation, I can carry my Prospect beyond the Grave; and, painful as my Distemper is, I can now sit in my Bed with a calm Resignation, to which my conquered Mi...

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"I shall not dwell long on this Circumstance, but only tell you, there came a young Lady one day to dine with Dorimene, who was really one of the greatest Beauties I ever saw; Vieuville was in a moment struck with her Charms, and she presently made a Conquest of his Heart."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"I look upon the difference between a Man who has a real Understanding, and one who has a little low Cunning, to be just as great as that between a Man who sees clearly, and one who is purblind"

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"But the Mind's Eye (as Shakespear calls it) is not formed to take in many Ideas, no more than the Body's many Objects at once."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"[F]or as his whole Mind was bent on one Point, and as the Knowledge of Characters relating to that Point was the grand Instrument of his Trade, he as mechanically acquired it as a Fisherman does the Knowledge of the proper Baits to catch the several Sorts of Fish."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

The mind may be "so weakened by the continual Daggers that pierce it, that our Judgment is lost, and we hourly accuse ourselves for something we have done, or something we have omitted, condemning ourselves for what we cannot account for."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)

Date: 1744, 1753

"A Metaphor from Mechanism, I think, will very plainly illustrate my Thoughts on this Subject [of wit and judgment]: For let a Machine, of any kind, be joined together by an ingenious Artist, and I dare say, he will be best able to take it apart again: a Bungler, or an ignorant Person, perhaps, m...

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)