Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"The Chief Thing, therefore, which Lawgivers and other wise Men, that have laboured for the Establishment of Society, have endeavour'd, has been to make the People they were to govern, believe, that it was more beneficial for every Body to conquer than indulge his Appetites and much better to min...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

Some may make "a continual War with themselves to promote the Peace of others" and aim at "no less than the Publick Welfare and the Conquest of their own Passion"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

The generality of Wise Men agree that there is "no Conquest like that of our Passions"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1723, 1732

"From whence we may learn that to perform a meritorious Action, it is not sufficient barely to conquer a Passion, unless it likewise be done from a laudable Principle, and consequently how necessary that Clause was in the Definition of Virtue, that our Endeavours were to proceed from a ratio...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1748, 1749

"And where is the wonder that the body when in health should be subservient, for how can it resist that torrent of blood, and all those spirits which are ready to force obedience, the will having for its ministers an invisible army of fluids, always ready to receive its orders, and as quick as li...

— Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751)