Date: 1752

"Love ... sprouts usually up in the richest and noblest minds; but there, unless nicely watched, pruned, and cultivated, and carefully kept clear of those vicious weed which are too apt to surround it, it branches forth into wildness and disorder, produces nothing desirable, but chokes up and kil...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"'O Miss Mathews! we have heard of Men entirely Masters of their Passions, and of Hearts which can carry this Fire in them, and conceal it at their Pleasure."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"Perhaps there may be such; but if there are, those Hearts may be compared, I believe, to Damps, in which it is more difficult to keep Fire alive than to prevent its blazing: In mine, it was placed in the Midst of combustible Matter."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"In this Chapter there are some Passages that may serve as a Kind of Touchstone, by which a young Lady may examine the Heart of her Lover/"

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"By the latter I shall see whether you can keep a Secret; and if it is no otherwise material, it will be a wholesome Exercise to your Mind; for the Practice of any Virtue is a kind of mental Exercise, and serves to maintain the Health and Vigour of the Soul."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"I hope I am not guilty of Profaneness; but in Pursuance of that cheerful Chain of Thoughts with which you have inspired me this Afternoon, I was just now lost in a Reverie, and fancied myself in those blissful Mansions which we hope to enjoy hereafter."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"'The greatest Difficulty,' added the Gentleman, 'which Persons of your Turn of Mind meet with, is in finding proper Objects of their Goodness: For nothing sure can be more irksome to a generous Mind, than to discover, that it hath thrown away all its good Offices on a Soil that bears no other Fr...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1785

"[W]hen the mind is absent, and the thoughts are wandering to something else than what is passing in the place in which we are, we are often miserable"

— Paley, William (1743-1805)

Date: 1785

"If different religions be professed in the same country, and the minds of men remain unfettered and unawed by intimidations of law, that religion which is founded in maxims of reason and credibility, will gradually gain over the other to it."

— Paley, William (1743-1805)

Date: 1785

"It were to be wished, therefore, that every part of a liturgy were personally applicable to every individual in the congregation; and that nothing were introduced to interrupt the passion, or damp the flame, which it is not easy to rekindle."

— Paley, William (1743-1805)