Date: March 13, 1727

"And is not virtue in mankind / The nutriment that feeds the mind; / Upheld by each good action past, / And still continued by the last?"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1727

"Old Men view best at a distance with the Eyes of their Understanding as well as with those of Nature."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1727

"The common Fluency of Speech in many Men, and most Women, is owing to a Scarcity of Matter, and a Scarcity of Words; for whoever is a Master of Language, and hath a Mind full of Ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the Choice of both; whereas common Speakers have only one Set of Ide...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1735

"But the whole Scene of this Voyage made so strong an Impression on my Mind, and is so deeply fixed in my Memory, that in committing it to Paper, I did not omit one material Circumstance"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1735

"He seemed therefore confident, that instead of Reason, we were only possessed of some Quality fitted to increase our natural Vices; as the Reflection from a troubled Stream returns the Image of an ill-shapen Body, not only larger, but more distorted."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1735

"Imagination, Fancy, and Invention, they are wholly Strangers to, nor have any Words in their Language by which those Ideas can be expressed; the whole Compass of their Thoughts and Mind, being shut up within the two forementioned Sciences"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1737

"From threshing Corn, he turns to thresh his Brains; / For which Her M------y allows him Grains."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1746, 1749

"Such Rancour this, of such a poisonous Vein, / As never, never, shall my Paper stain: / Much less infect my Heart"

— Francis, Philip (1708-1773)

Date: 1746, 1749

"For the hurt Eye an instant Cure you find; Then why neglect, for Years, the sickening Mind?"

— Francis, Philip (1708-1773)

Date: 1746, 1749

"For Peace and War succeed by Turns in Love, / And while tempestuous these Emotions roll, / And float with blind Disorder in the Soul."

— Francis, Philip (1708-1773)