Date: 1594

"Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy, / That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart / Than foemen's marks upon his battered shield, / But yet so just that he will not revenge."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1719

"I found indeed some Intervals of Reflection, and the serious Thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes, but I shook them off, and rouz'd my self from them as it were from a Distemper, and applying my self to Drinking and Company, soon master'd the Return of those Fits, for so...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1741-2

A "wounded conscience" may throb beneath a star, and shake one's "fabric with intestine war"

— Gilbert, Thomas (bap. 1713, d. 1766)

Date: August 12, 1738, to Nov. 1, 1739 [1748]

"As to the Outward Manner You speak of, wherein most of them were affected who were cut to the Heart by the Sword of Spirit, no wonder that this was at first surprising to You, since they are indeed so very rare, that have been thus prick'd and wounded."

— Wesley, John (1703-1791)

Date: 1759

"For genius may be compared to the natural strength of the body; learning to the superinduced accoutrements of arms: if the first is equal to the proposed exploit, the latter rather encumbers, than assists; rather retards, than promotes, the victory."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1762-3

"[T]he five senses in alliance [may] / To Reason hurl a proud defiance, / And, though oft conquer'd, yet unbroke, / Endeavour to throw off that yoke / Which they a greater slavery hold / Than Jewish bondage was of old"

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1793

" When painful truths invade the mind, / Ev'n wisdom wishes to be blind, / And hates th' officious ray."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1883-1885

"The body is a great intelligence, a multiplicity with one sense, a war and a peace, a herd and a herdsman."

— Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900)

Date: 1992

"No doubt suicide would turn out to be the violent preface to yet another span of nauseating consciousness, of diminishing spirals and tightening nooses, and memories like shrapnel tearing all day long through his flesh."

— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)

Date: May 7, 2014

"You learn to keep your mental body armor handy to protect against sudden attacks -- providing precious seconds to collect yourself and fight back."

— Armeni, Damon T.