Date: 1793

The extirpation of error "frees us from the influence of those phantoms which before misled us, shows us our true advantage as consisting in independence and integrity, and binds us by the general consent of our fellow citizens to the dictates of reason, more strongly than with fetters of iron."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"We put shackles upon our minds, and dare not trust ourselves at large in the pursuit of truth."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1794

"And as these irritative ideas make up a part of the chain of our waking thoughts, introducing other ideas that engage our attention, though themselves are unattended to, we find it very difficult to investigate by what steps many of our hourly trains of ideas gain their admittance."

— Darwin, Erasmus (1731-1802)

Date: February, 1821

"Standard productions of this kind are links in the chain of our conscious being. They bind together the different scattered divisions of our personal identity."

— Hazlitt, William (1778-1830)

Date: 1829

"Death is only the removal of an immortal soul from dead matter, which many have considered merely as a clog to the soul."

— Balfour, Walter (1776-1852)