Date: February 1792

"Whatever wisdom constituently is, it is like a seedless plant; it may be reared when it appears, but it cannot be voluntarily produced."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1792

"But indeed, a little consideration will soon enable us to account for the ignorance of mankind in this interesting particular; and will teach us, that it solely arises from those baneful habits of perverse reasoning, which have from time to time immemorial taken root in the minds of men, and hav...

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

Date: 1793

"It is of great importance that this idea should be extirpated."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1793

"A skilful writer of anecdotes, gratifies by suffering us to make something that looks like a discovery of our own; he gives a certain activity to the mind, and the reflections appear to arise from ourselves. He throws unperceivably seeds, and we see those flowers start up, which we believe to be...

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: 1793

"Marville says, that the famous orators in the pulpit and at the bar, of his time, used to read the finest passages of the poets, to germinate those seeds of eloquence which nature had scattered in their souls."

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: 1793, 1794

"When future years in fancy's mirror rose, / What pleasure 'twas to lead thy opening mind, / Where virtue blossoms, and religion blows!"

— Thomson, James (fl. 1793) [Rev.]

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"Her indulgent tenderness, the frankness of her temper, and my innate rising curiosity, soon removed all distance between us: like friends of an equal age, we freely conversed on every topic, familiar or abstruse; and it was her delight and reward to observe the first shoots of my young ideas."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"While I served in the militia, before and after the publication of my essay, this idea ripened in my mind; nor can I paint in more lively colours the feelings of the moment, than by transcribing some passages, under their respective dates, from a journal which I kept at that time."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"The second was still too young to benefit by my instructions; but in the heart of my eldest I laboured unceasingly to plant those principles which might enable him to avoid the crimes of his parents."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I suffered not my grief at this circumstance to take root in my mind."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)