Date: November, 1682

"They, who the written rule had never known, / Were to themselves both rule and law alone: / To nature's plain indictment they shall plead; / And, by their conscience, be condemn'd or freed."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1683

"Falsely they [sense and rhyme] seem each other to oppose; / Rhyme must be made with Reason's laws to close; / And when to conquer her you bend your force, / The mind will triumph in the noble course."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1683

"To Reason's yoke she quickly will incline, / Which, far from hurting, renders her divine; / But if neglected, will as easily stray, / And master Reason, which she should obey."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1687

"While pride and pomp allure, and plenteous ease, / That is, till man's predominant passions cease, / Admire no longer at my slow increase."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1687

"But, when arrived at last to human race, / The Godhead took a deep considering space; / And, to distinguish man from all the rest, / Unlocked the sacred treasures of his breast; / And mercy mixt with reason did impart, / One to his head, the other to his heart; / Reason to rule, but mercy to f...

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1687

"Conscience is the Royalty and Prerogative of every Private man. He is absolute in his own Breast, and accountable to no Earthly Power, for that which passes only betwixt God and Him."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"Needless was written law, where none opprest; / The law of man was written in his breast."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"But if thy Passions lord it in thy Breast, / Art thou not still a Slave, and still opprest."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1700

"If not your wife, let reason's rule persuade / Name but my fault, amends shall soon be made."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1700

One cannot find "A throne so soft as in a woman's mind"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)