Date: 1790
"In such cases, the passions, though restrained, are not always subdued, but often remain lurking in the breast with all their original fury."
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"If it is excessive, I will go to a house from whence no tyrant can remove me. I keep in mind always that the door is open, that I can walk out when I please, and retire to that hospitable house which is at all times open to all the world; for beyond my undermost garment, beyond my body, no man l...
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"But, when we have neither been able to defend ourselves from it, nor have perished in that defence, no natural principle, no regard to the approbation of the supposed impartial spectator, to the judgment of the man within the breast, seems to call upon us to escape from it by destroying ourselves."
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"The real or even the imaginary presence of the impartial spectator, the authority of the man within the breast, is always at hand to overawe them into the proper tone and temper of moderation."
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"That consolation may be drawn, not only from the complete approbation of the man within the breast, but, if possible, from a still nobler and more generous principle, from a firm reliance upon, and a reverential submission to, that benevolent wisdom which directs all the events of human life, an...
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"The judgments of the man within the breast, however, might be a good deal affected by those reasonings, and that great inmate might be taught by them to attempt to overawe all our private, partial, and selfish affections into a more or less perfect tranquillity."
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1790
"The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds, / That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd / Now crowded on his mind in all their rage / Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!"
preview | full record— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)
Date: 1790
"But while those ancient philosophers endeavoured in this manner to suggest every consideration which could, as Milton says, arm the obdured breast with stubborn patience, as with triple steel; they, at the same time, laboured above all to convince their followers that there neither was nor could...
preview | full record— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)
Date: 1791
"The dissipation of thought, of which you complain, is nothing more than the vacillation of a mind suspended between different motives, and changing its direction as any motive gains or loses strength."
preview | full record— Boswell, James (1740-1795)
Date: 1791
"If you can but kindle in your mind any strong desire, if you can but keep predominant any wish for some particular excellence or attainment, the gusts of imagination will break away, without any effect upon your conduct, and commonly without any traces left upon the memory."
preview | full record— Boswell, James (1740-1795)