Date: 1719, 1720

"For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon."

— Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)

Date: 1720, 1735

A banker's soul may be "Weigh'd in the Ballance, and found Light."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1724

"And ev'ry one begins to find / The same impression on his mind."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1726

"Here I discovered the Roguery and Ignorance of those who pretend to write Anecdotes, or secret History who send so many Kings to their Graves with a Cup of Poison; will repeat the Discourse between a Prince and Chief Minister, where no Witness was by; unlock the Thoughts and Cabinets of E...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1726

"But the whole Scene of this Voyage made so strong an Impression on my Mind, and is so deeply fixed in my Memory, that in committing it to Paper I did not omit one material Circumstance."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1726

"Reason alone is sufficient to govern a Rational Creature; which was therefore a Character we had no Pretence to challenge"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: March 13, 1727

"Must these like empty shadows pass, / Or forms reflected from a glass? / Or mere chimeras in the mind, / That fly, and leave no marks behind?"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: March 13, 1727

"And is not virtue in mankind / The nutriment that feeds the mind; / Upheld by each good action past, / And still continued by the last?"

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1727

"Old Men view best at a distance with the Eyes of their Understanding as well as with those of Nature."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1727

"The common Fluency of Speech in many Men, and most Women, is owing to a Scarcity of Matter, and a Scarcity of Words; for whoever is a Master of Language, and hath a Mind full of Ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the Choice of both; whereas common Speakers have only one Set of Ide...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)