Date: 1791

"This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere 5, that 'a man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it;' for, notwithstanding his constitutional indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on hi...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"It can be accounted for only in this way; that by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection of life, he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, and which he had constantly accustomed himself to cloth...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more bark and steel for the mind, if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"Every page of the Rambler shews a mind teeming with classical allusion and poetical imagery."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"His mind resembled the vast ampitheatre, the Colisaeum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgment, which like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the Arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drives then b...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1791

"I cannot allow any fragment whatever that floats in my memory concerning the great subject of this work to be lost."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1793

"There, train'd amid slaughter and ruin to wade, / They toil in the heart-steeling, barbarous trade."

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

Date: 1793

" When painful truths invade the mind, / Ev'n wisdom wishes to be blind, / And hates th' officious ray."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1793

"Flit, Galloway, and find / Some narrow, dirty, dungeon cave, / The picture of thy mind"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1793

"Alas the sex you little know, / Their ruling passion is a Beau."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)