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: 1710, 1714

"How stands it therefore, in my own Oeconomy, my principal Province and Command? How stand my Fancys? How deal they with me? Or do I take upon me rather to deal with Them? Do I talk, question, arraign? Or am I talk'd with, arraign'd, and contented to hear, without giving a Reply? If I vote with F...

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

Date: 1710, 1714

"But let my Senses err ever so widely; I am not on this account beside my-self: Nor am I out of my own Possession, whilst there is a Person left within; who has Power to dispute the Appearances, and redress the Imagination."

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

Date: 1710, 1714

"Lady-Fancy was not aware of the Design upon her; but let her-self be worm'd out, by degrees."

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

Date: 1710, 1714

"Fancy in the mean while carry'd her point: For she was absolute over the Monarch; and had been too little talk'd to by her-self, to bear being reprov'd in Company. The Prince grew sullen; turn'd the Discourse; abhor'd the Profanation offer'd to his Sovereign-Empress; deliver'd up his Thoughts to...

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

Date: 1710, 1714

"'Tis easy to bring the Hero's Case home to our-selves; and see, in the ordinary Circumstances of Life, how Love, Ambition, and the gayer Tribe of Fancys (as well as the gloomy and dark Specters of another sort) prevail over our Mind, 'Tis easy to observe how they work on us, when we refuse to be...

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

Date: 1710, 1714

"For Nature will not be mock'd. The Prepossession against her can never be very lasting. Her Decrees and Instincts are powerful. She has a strong Party abroad; and as strong a one within our-selves."

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

Date: From Thursd. Febr. 9. to Saturd. Febr. 11. 1710

"Their Conversation is a kind of Preparative for Sleep: It takes the Mind down from its Abstractions, leads it into the familiar Traces of Thought, and lulls it into that State of Tranquility, which is the Condition of a thinking Man when he is but half awake."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: From Thursd. Febr. 9. to Saturd. Febr. 11. 1710

"The Mind of Man in a long Life will become a Magazine of Wisdom or Folly, and will consequently discharge it self in something impertinent or improving."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: From Saturd. Febr. 25. to Tuesd. Febr. 28. 1710

"But indeed I must do my Female Readers the Justice to own, that their tender Hearts are much more susceptible of good Impressions, than the Minds of the other Sex."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)