Date: 1692, 1724

"I love, 'tis true, and cannot flatter myself with ever being disengag'd from a Passion, which has so great an Empire over me; yet when Honour calls me I am ready to attend; and if I must give up my Life it shall be in so glorious a way as will do Honour to my Name."

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

Date: 1692, 1724

"No, answer'd Mahomet, my Heart is not so easily wounded."

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

Date: 1692, 1724

"Madam, reply'd she, since they are your Majesty's Commands, I cannot refuse obeying; I own with the utmost Confusion, that till now, it has not been in my Power to banish from my Heart the fatal Idea of the Count of La Vagne."

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

Date: 1692, 1724

"But alas! when Love commands, Reason must obey."

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

Date: 1692, 1724

"I shall never forget his Ingratitude; he is still dear to me, I confess; yet I hope in time to banish him from my Heart."

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

Date: 1692, 1724

"Before I had seen her, nothing cou'd be equal to my Ambition; but now her Charms have made so deep an Impression in my Heart, that all other Passions have submitted to my transcendent Love."

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

Date: 1747

"The figures, which must actuate her, remain / As yet quite uncollected in the brain; / Exterior objects have not furnish' yet / Th' ideal stores which Age is sure to get."

— Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (1661-1741)

Date: 1747

"But the wild passions, once broke loose, to check / Surpass'd his pow'r, or the slack'd reins recall."

— Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (1661-1741)

Date: 1747

"And where's the boasted liberty of man? / Chang'd are his lords indeed; and tyrant Lust / Usurps the just supremacy of Heav'n."

— Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (1661-1741)

Date: 1777

"The minds of the negroes are contracted; because slavery destroys all the springs of the soul."

— Raynal, Guillaume Thomas (1713-1796)