Date: 1710

"In that Particular I was sure my fair Agnes was exceeded by none; her Charms were faultless and peculiar, but her Mind was a Rock upon which my Resolution struck."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1720

"Ah vile Heart, more obdurate and harder than Adamant! upon this cruel Anvil was forged the Chains that bound up my unlucky Destiny!"

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1721, 1722

"But a voice from heaven was heard, which determined all disputes; he shall not be removed out of the hands of mortals, because happy are the breasts that shall give him suck, the hands that shall hold him, and the bed on which he shall rest! after so many striking evidences, my dear Joshua, the ...

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1721, 1722

"I have the feelings of humanity for the unhappy, as if none but they were men: and even the great, towards whom I find my heart as stone whilst they are in prosperity, I love them when they are fallen."

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1725

"I will give you the saddest Account you have ever yet been entertain'd with; but you must wrap your Heart in a Case of Adamant, or it will melt away in the hearing of it."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1725

"If Artander's Heart were not as hard as the Rock he has been scrutinizing into, he wou'd never have laid such strict Injunctions on my Pen, and robb'd me of my darling Pleasure; but to let you see how ready I am to relinquish every thing that gives you uneasiness, I have, in compliance with my F...

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1726

" For as the Face is the Index of the Mind, I am of Opinion, a Person of nice Judgment and Observation may discover a false Passion, with as much ease, as a Jeweller would distinguish the different Species of Stones (if we may call them so.)"

— Chetwood, William Rufus (d. 1766)

Date: 1727

"He well knew a Plebeian Mind was never Proof against the Persuasive Power of Tempting Gold; a Metal which insensibly diffuses itself into every Sense we have, and by Art Magick forces a liking, though Death and Ruin be its Attendants."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1742

"[H]e bewailed her Loss with Groans, which would have pierced any Heart but those which are possessed by some People, and are made of a certain Composition not unlike Flint in its Hardness and other Properties; for you may strike Fire from them which will dart through the Eyes, but they can never...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1742

"He had never contracted a Debt in his Life, and was consequently the less ready at an Expedient to extricate himself. Tow-wouse was willing to give him Credit 'till next time, to which Mrs. Tow-wouse would probably have consented (for such was Joseph's Beauty, that it had ma...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)