Date: 1757, 1777

"But TERENCE and VIRGIL maintain an universal, undisputed empire over the minds of men."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1757

"This in the mean time is obvious, that the empire of all religious faith over the understanding is wavering and uncertain, subject to every variety of humour, and dependent on the present incidents, which strike the imagination."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1757

"The universal propensity to believe in invisible, intelligent power, if not an original instinct, being at least a general attendant of human nature, may be considered as a kind of mark or stamp, which the divine workman has set upon his work."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1757

"Since, therefore, the mind of man appears of so loose and unsteddy a contexture, that, even at present, when so many persons find an interest in continually employing on it the chissel and the hammer, yet are they not able to engrave theological tenets with any lasting impression; how much more ...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1757

"During such calm sunshine of the mind, these spectres of false divinity never make their appearance."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1757

"Their root strikes deeper into the mind, and springs from the essential and universal properties of human nature."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1762

"never joy, / Save th' anxious sordid one to view his gold, / Could touch his marble heart"

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

Date: 1762

"But as the fire / Refines the silver; so a taste of woe / Awakes the Soul."

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

Date: 1776

The ruling passion of an author may be "strongly marked in his writings"

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

Date: 1776

Oblivion may throw "Her dark blank shades" o'er your mind

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