Date: w. 1755, 1777

"She [Nature] employs it [spiritual substance] as a kind of paste or clay; modifies it into a variety of forms and existences; dissolves after a time each modification, and from its substance erects a new form."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: w. 1755, 1777

"And does any thing steel the breast of judges and juries against the sentiments of humanity but reflections on necessity and public interest?"

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1781

"But the difference is much greater between the ideas of sense, the materials upon which the mind first begins its work, and the truths produced by its operations, than between the rough marble, and the statue formed by the skill of PHIDIAS."

— Rotheram, John (1725–1789)

Date: 1781

"Let matter then be allowed to furnish the first materials; the enlightened mind, which by its operations upon these discovers truth, and pursues it through all its distant connections, must have powers as far superiour to that which gave the first impression, as PHIDIAS is superiour to the marble."

— Rotheram, John (1725–1789)

Date: 1794

"'What numerous ills in life befall! / 'Yet Wisdom learns to scorn them all, / 'And arms the breast with steel"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)

Date: 1806

"And now, cold horror trembles o'er my soul, / When thou in blank uncertainty array'd, / With iron-hearted deaf control / Throw'st all around thy awful, dubious shade"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)