Date: Tuesday, June 14, to Thursday, June 16, 1709

"This way of application to gain a lady's heart, is taking her as we do towns and castles, by distressing the place, and letting none come near them without our pass."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Thursday, June 23, to Saturday, June 25, 1709

"The conquest of passion gives ten times more happiness than we can reap from the gratification of it; and she that has got over such a one as mine, will stand among beaux and pretty fellows, with as much safety as in a summer's day among grasshoppers and butterflies."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: 1710, 1714

"He shou'd set afoot the powerfullest Facultys of his Mind, and assemble the best Forces of his Wit and Judgment, in order to make a formal Descent on the Territorys of the Heart: resolving to decline no Combat, nor hearken to any Terms, till he had pierc'd into its inmost Provinces, and reach'd ...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1710, 1714

"Here the fantastick Tribe it-self seems scandaliz'd. A Civil War begins. The major part of the capricious Dames range themselves on Reason's side, and declare against the languid Syren. Ambition blushes at the offer'd Sweet. Conceit and Vanity take superiour Airs. Even Luxury her-self, in her po...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1710, 1714

"Either I work upon my Fancys, or They on Me. If I give Quarter, They won't. There can be no Truce, no Suspension of Arms between us. The one or the other must be superiour, and have the Command. For if the Fancys are left to themselves, the G...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: From Tuesday May 23. to Thursday May 25. 1710

"This is Conquest in the Philosophick Sense; but the Empire over our selves is, methinks, no less laudable in common Life, where the whole Tenour of a Man's Carriage is in Subservience to his own Reason, and Conformity both to the good Sense and Inclination of other Men."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Saturday, March 31, 1711

"I am so unhappy, as to know that what I am fond of are Trifles, and that what I neglect is of the greatest Importance: In short, I find a Contest in my own Mind between Reason and Fashion."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Tuesday, April 22, 1712

"After this I laid Siege to four Heiresses successively, and being a handsome young Dog in those Days, quickly made a Breach in their Hearts."

— Budgell, Eustace (1686-1737)

Date: 1759

"This order of passions, according to this system, was of a more generous and noble nature than the other. They were considered upon many occasions as the auxiliaries of reason, to check and restrain the inferior and brutal appetites. We are often angry at ourselves, it was observed, we often bec...

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1790

"In proportion to the degree of the self-command which is necessary in order to conquer our natural sensibility, the pleasure and pride of the conquest are so much the greater; and this pleasure and pride are so great that no man can be altogether unhappy who completely enjoys them."

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)