Date: 1790

"But, when we have neither been able to defend ourselves from it, nor have perished in that defence, no natural principle, no regard to the approbation of the supposed impartial spectator, to the judgment of the man within the breast, seems to call upon us to escape from it by destroying ourselves."

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1790

"The real or even the imaginary presence of the impartial spectator, the authority of the man within the breast, is always at hand to overawe them into the proper tone and temper of moderation."

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1790

"That consolation may be drawn, not only from the complete approbation of the man within the breast, but, if possible, from a still nobler and more generous principle, from a firm reliance upon, and a reverential submission to, that benevolent wisdom which directs all the events of human life, an...

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1790

"The judgments of the man within the breast, however, might be a good deal affected by those reasonings, and that great inmate might be taught by them to attempt to overawe all our private, partial, and selfish affections into a more or less perfect tranquillity."

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1790

"The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds, / That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd / Now crowded on his mind in all their rage / Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!"

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

Date: 1791

"His mind resembled the vast ampitheatre, the Colisaeum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgment, which like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the Arena, were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drives then b...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1799

In Fancy's "filial train," inspiration rides foremost and "Myriads of spruce ideas crowd the rear."

— Grainger, James (1721-1766)

Date: 1808

"'But when the Bard by Arun's stream / Indulg'd each sadly tender theme, / And with enchantment wild combin'd / The countless "shadowy tribes of mind;'"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1809, 1812

"Alas, her hopes are transient as that blaze, / And direful images her fancy crowd"

— Graham, James (1765-1811)

Date: January, 1888

"So that the little people who manage man's internal theatre had not as yet received a very rigorous training; and played upon their stage like children who should have slipped into the house and found it empty, rather than like drilled actors performing a set piece to a huge hall of faces."

— Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894)