Date: 1770

"The captious turn of an habitual wrangler deadens the understanding, sours the temper, and hardens the heart: by rendering the mind suspicious, and attentive to trifles, it weakens the sagacity of instinct, and extinguishes the fire of imagination; it transforms conversation into, a state of war...

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1770

"A metaphysician, exploring the recesses of the human heart, hath just such a chance for finding the truth, as a man with microscopic eyes would have, for, finding the road."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"Fain to implore the aid of Flattery's screen, / Even from thyself thy loathsome heart to hide, / (The mansion then no more of joy serene), / Where fear, distrust, malevolence, abide, / And impotent desire, and disappointed pride?"

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"Pursue, poor imp, th' imaginary charm, / Indulge gay Hope, and Fancy's pleasing fire: / Fancy and Hope too soon shall of themselves expire."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"Thus Heaven enlarged his soul in riper years. / For Nature gave him strength, and fire, to soar, / On Fancy's wing, above this vale of tears."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"To the pure soul by Fancy's fire refined, / Ah what is mirth but turbulence unholy, / When with the charm compared of heavenly melancholy!"

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"Sooth'd by the lulling sound of grove and stream / Romantick visions swarm on Edwin's soul."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"'The gusts of appetite, the clouds of care, / 'And storms of disappointment, all o'erpast, / 'Henceforth no earthly hope with heaven shall share / 'This heart, where peace serenely shines at last."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"'Could History man's secret heart reveal, / 'And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn, / 'Her transcripts to explore what bosom would not yearn!"

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"'Fancy enervates, while it sooths, the heart, / 'And, while it dazzles, wounds the mental sight: / 'To joy each heightening charm it can impart, / 'But wraps the hour of wo in tenfold night."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)