Date: 1727

"But I mistook my Kinsman most extremely, for on the contrary, his Soul is blacker than Negro Sancho, the Beauty of Africa; he boasts himself of the most harden'd Crime, defies Heaven, despises Terror, and is got above Fear by the meer force of a flagrant Assurance."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"But leaving it therefore where we find it, I say if you see an Apparition, that is such an Apparition as we have been speaking of, not a Phantosm of your own Brain, not an imaginary Apparition the effect of Fright or Dream, or meer Whimsie, not a Hypocondriack Apparition, the effect of Vapours a...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"It is without Doubt, that Fancy and Imagination form a world of Apparitions in the Minds of Men and Women; (for we must not exclude the Ladies in this Part, whatever we do) and People go away as thoroughly possess'd with the Reality of having seen the Devil, as if they convers'd Face to Face wit...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"Old Men view best at a distance with the Eyes of their Understanding as well as with those of Nature."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1727

"The common Fluency of Speech in many Men, and most Women, is owing to a Scarcity of Matter, and a Scarcity of Words; for whoever is a Master of Language, and hath a Mind full of Ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the Choice of both; whereas common Speakers have only one Set of Ide...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: w. 1707, published 1728-9

Dulness is "the safe Opiate of the Mind."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1728, 1729, 1736

"A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead;] i. e. A trifling head, and a contracted heart,as the poet, book 4. describes the accomplished Sons of Dulness; of whom this is only an Image, or Scarecrow, and so stuffed out with these corresponding materials."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1728, 1729, 1736

"She form'd this image of well-bodied air, / With pert flat eyes she window'd well its head, / A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead, / And empty words she gave, and sounding strain, / But senseless, lifeless! idol void and vain!"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1733, 1736

"The ruling Passion conquers reason still."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1733

"There St. John mingles with my friendly Bowl, / The Feast of Reason and the Flow of Soul."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)