Date: 1692, 1724

"I shall have made the Conquest of his Heart before ever my Rival can be able to come and dispute it with me."

— Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine) (1650/51-1705)

Date: 1748, 1749

"And where is the wonder that the body when in health should be subservient, for how can it resist that torrent of blood, and all those spirits which are ready to force obedience, the will having for its ministers an invisible army of fluids, always ready to receive its orders, and as quick as li...

— Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751)

Date: 1758

"There are few moralists who know how to arm our passions against one another."

— Helvétius, Claude Adrien (1715-1771)

Date: 1762

"Combattu sans cesse par mes sentiments naturels qui parloient pour l’intérêt commun, & par ma raison qui rapportoit tout à moi, j’aurois flotté toute ma vie dans cette continuelle alternative, faisant le mal, aimant le bien, & toujours contraire à moi-même, si de nouvelles lumières n’eussent écl...

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)