Date: 1759

"Beware of Self-deceit, that wily cheat, / Which blinds bright Intellect with vain Conceit; / Conceit sees Nothing in its real Light, / All Things alike delude its cheated Sight."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"If not with Prejudice, and Passion blind, / In Reason's Glass, you will your Error find. / Search the Recesses of the human Soul, / Mark there, what secret Springs her Acts controul."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Let Conscience, Nature's Monitor, control / Your Conduct, she is Guardian to your Soul."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Shun Comedies, where Scenes indecent stain / The youthful Mind, with Images obscene."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Ah! never at immodest Plays appear; / A wanton Farce, and a lascivious Play, / The Seeds of Vice insensibly convey; / There Virgin Innocence is first betray'd / By bad Impressions, on the Fancy made."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"No further can the Reach of human Mind / Extend, like Ocean, to its Bounds confin'd."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Romance is, to the Mind, a noxious Feast, / Prepar'd by Art, to please a vicious Taste."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Soul, without Body, its swift Flight can steer, / Beyond the Planets, to the starry Sphere; / O, with what Rapture, will she soar above, / And rais'd on Wings of Contemplation rove!"

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Fair Pupil, shake off Soul-depressing Vice, / That wing'd with Faith, your Soul may upward rise / Fly from alluring Snares of guileful Joy, / Let Reason's pure Delights your Mind employ."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth, / To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth; / Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use, / Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce; / Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed, / If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)