Date: May 10, 1704

"Besides, the eyes of the understanding see best when those of the senses are out of the way, and therefore blind men are observed to tread their steps with much more caution, and conduct, and judgment than those who rely with too much confidence upon the virtue of the visual nerve, which every l...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: May 10, 1704

"To this end I have some time since, with a world of pains and art, dissected the carcass of human nature, and read many useful lectures upon the several parts, both containing and contained, till at last it smelt so strong I could preserve it no longer."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1704

"Erect your schemes with as much method and skill as you please; yet, if the materials be nothing but dirt, spun out of your own entrails (the guts of modern brains), the edifice will conclude at last in a cobweb; the duration of which, like that of other spiders’ webs, may be imputed to their be...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1709

"To tell you truly, said I, about the thirtieth year of my age, I received a wound that has still left a Scar in my Mind, never to be quite worn out by Time or Philosophy."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Thursday, June 9, to Saturday, June 11, 1709

"The fellow with broken limbs justly deserves your alms for his impotent condition; but he that cannot use his own reason, is in a much worse state; for you see him in miserable circumstances, with his remedy at the same time in his own possession, if he would or could use it."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: From Tuesday Dec. 13. to Thursd. Dec. 15. 1709

"To tell you truly, said I, about the Thirtieth Year of my Age, I received a Wound that has still left a Scar in my Mind, never to be quite worn out by Time or Philosophy."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: 1710

"Now, thought is to the mind what motion is to the body; both are equally improved by exercise and impaired by disuse"

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: 1710, 1734

Ideas may be brought "bare and naked" into one's view, keeping out" the names.

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: 1710, 1734

"Ancient and rooted prejudices do often pass into principles: and those propositions which once obtain the force and credit of a principle, are not only themselves, but likewise whatever is deducible from them, thought privileged from all examination. And there is no absurdity so gross, which by ...

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: 1710, 1734

"Is it therefore to be wondered at, if the generality of men, who are ever intent on business or pleasure, and little used to fix or open the eye of their mind, should not have all that conviction and evidence of the being of God, which might be expected in reasonable creatures?"

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)