Date: c. 458 BC

"And unless one fate ordained of the gods restrains another fate from winning the advantage, my heart would outstrip my tongue and pour forth its fears; but, as it is, it mutters only in the dark, distressed and hopeless ever to unravel anything in time when my soul's aflame."

— Aeschylus (c. 525/524 BC-c. 456/455)

Date: w. 1592-3 or 1595?, 1623

"I cannot weep, for all my body's moisture / Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart; / Nor can my tongue unload my heart's great burden, / For selfsame wind that I should speak withal / Is kindling coals that fires all my breast, / And burns me up with flames that tears would quench."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1598

"And our supplies live largely in the hope / Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns / With an incensèd fire of injuries."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1696

"Odsheart, she longs to see thee, and she is a curious fine Creature, ye Rogue! such Eyes! such Lips!--and such a Tongue between 'em! ah, the Tip of it will set a Mans Soul on fire!"

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"No! my very Soul's on fire, and nothing but the Villain's blood shall quench it."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"Hark! how the Warlike Notes inspire / In ev'ry Breast a glowing Fire."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"Long since alas! the airy Vision's fled, / And I with wandring Flames my Passion feed."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"O! for a Soul of fire, / To warm, and animate our common Cause, / And make a body of us."

— Southerne, Thomas (1659-1746)

Date: 1700

"When I did not see him I cou'd have brib'd a Villain to his Assassination; but his appearance rakes the Embers which have so long layn smother'd in my Breast."

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1702

"Witness the Blood / Which thro' successive Hero's Veins ally'd / To our Greek Emperors, roll'd down to me, / Feeds the bright Flame of Glory in my Heart."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)