Date: 1778

"Every seminary of learning may be said to be surrounded with an atmosphere of floating knowledge, where every mind may imbibe somewhat congenial to its own original conceptions."

— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)

Date: 1779

"Hope delayed fatigues the mind, / And drinks the spirits up"

— Newton, John (1725-1807)

Date: 1779, 1781

"When Horace says of Pindar, that he pours his violence and rapidity of verse, as a river swoln with rain rushes from the mountain; or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in either case, produces a simile; the mind is impr...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"A memory admitting some things and rejecting others, an intellectual digestion that concocted the pulp of learning, but refused the husks, had the appearance of an instinctive elegance, of a particular provision made by Nature for literary politeness."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"But the power of Cowley is not so much to move the affections, as to exercise the understanding."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"The diction, being the vehicle of the thoughts, first presents itself to the intellectual eye; and if the first appearance offends, a further knowledge is not often sought."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1782

"Faults in the life breed errors in the brain"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

A "glance of the mind" is fleet

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"To captivate admiring Fancy's eyes, / She bids celestial decorations rise; / But, as a playful and capricious child / Frowns at the splendid toy on which it smiled; / So wayward Fancy now with scorn surveys / Those specious Miracles she lov'd to praise; / Still fond of change, and fickle Fashion...

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1782

"Rough annoyance" may rankle in the mind

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)